Happy Birthday, Elena
by Hope Mikaelson-Clarke
Summary: Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries. This is my first fanfic for this fandom, so hopefully I have the characters portrayed correctly. AU to episode 3x01 and on. The rating was bumped up from T to M with the posting of chapter 9.
1. Chapter 1

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 1

 **Summary:** On the night of Elena's 18th Birthday, her friends throw her a surprise party at the Mystic Grill. When she has a little too much to drink, and wants to go home, she calls Elijah, who is more than happy to pick her up.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own The Vampire Diaries. This is my first fanfic for this fandom, so hopefully I have the characters portrayed correctly.

When Bonnie and Caroline had picked her up that night, Elena had thought that her best friends were simply taking her out to dinner for her birthday. Like it would just be another girl's night to celebrate. What she hadn't been expecting was for Tyler and Matt and Damon to be at the Mystic Grill waiting for them, or for the group to have the place all to themselves. But despite the surprise, Elena enjoyed herself, making sure that, even with all the drinking that they were all doing, that she wasn't off with Damon alone at any point of the night, since their relationship was still hit and miss, and Elena still wasn't sure just where they stood with each other. This was at least better than a huge party with a bunch of people that Elena barely spoke to. So, she enjoyed herself as much as she could.

The party was still going on as Elena stumbled towards the bathroom. The round or two of tequila shots were probably over her limit and she needed to pee. The only issue was that, once she reached the bathroom, the urge to pee was gone. Being vaguely aware of her actions, Elena pulled out her phone and called the first person that came to mind that wasn't already here. The fact that the first person on her mind wasn't Jeremy, or Alaric, or even Stefan didn't faze Elena, because she didn't even think about who she called instead. And when she heard the voice at the other end of the line, it just felt, right. Like he would do whatever it took to make sure she was okay, despite the times that one of them had gone back on their word and/or betrayed the other in some way.

" **Is everything alright, Elena?** " Elijah's voice sounded clear and precise and it managed to cut through some of her haze.

"I'm fine, for the most part. Just drunk and tired and can you come get me from the Mystic Grill? Pretty please with lots of hugs and kisses on top?" Elena replied, her speech partly slurring together.

" **I'll be there in ten.** " Elijah replied, not letting on what her drunk flirting was doing to him, and even as he spoke, Elena could already hear his keys jingling and the front door closing.

"Thanks 'Lijah." Elena slurred before staggering back out of the bathroom and towards the front door of the restaurant.

If her friends were calling after her to see if she was okay, Elena didn't hear them, nor did she acknowledge them as she left her own party. She would call Bonnie and Caroline in the morning, or some time the following day once she had slept off her hangover to thank them for party and apologize for leaving early. By the time that she made it out of the building, Elijah was already pulling up to the curb and getting out of his car to help Elena into the passenger seat. Once he was sure that she had her purse and her jacket from inside, Elijah came back out and got back into the car.

"Why me, Elena? You could have called Jeremy, or your guardian, Alaric, to come get you. Why call me?" Elijah asked once he was behind the wheel again and started heading towards Elena's house.

"I dunno. Just called the first person that came to my mind that wasn't already at my party." Elena replied as she scooted over on the bench seat of Elijah's car and snuggled into his side, causing him to instinctively wrap an arm around her shoulders.

"What are you doing, Elena?" Elijah inquired as he came to a stop at a red light and felt Elena's hand lightly graze his already growing erection.

"I want you, 'Lijah. I don't care that you're 1000+ years my senior. You're sexy as fuck and I want you buried inside of me." Elena replied, making Elijah realize that the girl wasn't just a flirt when she was drunk, but that she had no filter either, for surely, she wouldn't talk like this while sober.

"While I appreciate the sentiment, and I do very much want to give you what you are asking me for, nothing shall be happening tonight." Elijah replied, his hand gripping the steering wheel to control the urge to pull her onto his lap and have his way with her while driving.

"Pretty please?" Elena begged with a pout. "I promise to be a good girl." She added before leaning up to run her lips along Elijah's neck, below his ear.

"My dear, sweet Elena. You are drunk, and I will not take pleasure from you in this state. Once I get you home, I shall take care of you and I will stay with you through the night, but nothing else, nothing sexual or intimate, will happen. If, come morning, you still want to have me as a lover, we shall indulge in those activities." Elijah explained.

Elena pouted again against the side of Elijah's neck, but nodded in [mostly] understanding. It wasn't long after that that Elijah was pulling up in front of the Gilbert house, but Elena had already started to doze off. Taking in the lack of lights on in the house, it looked as if no one else was home, causing Elijah to send a silent thank to whomever might be listening that he had already been invited in. Turning the ignition off, Elijah quickly found Elena's house key in her small purse before easily scooping her up into his arms and carrying her into the house, only pausing momentarily to unlock the front door, and up the stairs. As Elijah reached the second-floor landing, a door opened, and Elena's younger brother/cousin stepped into the hallway. Elijah noticed Jeremy's eyes go from Elena to him and then back to Elena.

"She's not hurt, she's just drunk and asleep. She called to ask me to pick her up and bring her home. I'll take care of her this evening." Elijah explained.

"Why would she call you? Why not me or Ric?" Jeremy questioned.

"I asked the same thing. For some reason, in her drunken state, I was the first person she thought of that wasn't already at the Mystic Grill for her birthday." Elijah replied, causing Jeremy to nod.

"Thank you for getting her home safely." Jeremy said before moving around the Original to head downstairs.

"You are probably the most trust worthy of your family, and even still, I'm curious as to why she thought to call you."

Elijah let out an exasperated sigh.

"I do not know. I did, however, promise to stay with her tonight to look after her, so if you excuse me, Alaric, I have a promise to keep." Elijah said before making his way to Elena's bedroom and laying her down on the bed gently.

"'Lijah?" Elena mumbled as she curled up and turned towards him.

"Elena, I need you to wake up now." Elijah said softly.

"Okay." Came the sleepy reply, but nothing else.

Elijah couldn't help the smirk that pulled at the corners of his lips. Not only had he found out that she flirted and had no filter while drunk, but he was also quickly coming to the realization that she was peacefully beautiful when she was asleep. Nothing to harm her that made her facial features harden to remain strong and not show her fear so that she could protect her loved ones. Not being able to help himself, with this new realization about the young doppelgänger, Elijah bent over and placed a chaste kiss on the top of Elena's head. Once he pulled away, the Original sat on the edge of the bed, and lightly shook Elena to wake her up.

"Elena. Dear, sweet Elena, you need to wake up." Elijah tried again as he ran his fingertips along her cheek.

"M'kay." Elena muttered.

"I don't want to use force, Elena, but I will if it is necessary." Elijah warned.

"Are you ever any fun?" Elena asked as she opened one eye and looked up at him.

"When I don't have a drunk human girl in my charge, I can be. But I promised to take care of you this evening, and I can't fully do that if you don't get changed and drink some water." Elijah replied with a smirk.

Elena opened her other eye, just to narrow her gaze at the Original. There was part of her that wanted to test that statement of his, but another part, which was much larger, just wanted to snuggle into his side and use his chest as a pillow. Something told her that Elijah would make an amazingly comfortable pillow. But when Elijah simply met her narrowed gaze without blinking, Elena determined that he was serious about her getting changed for bed and getting her to drink some water. With a sigh Elena sat up and met his gaze straight on.

"I promise to get changed for bed, but you need to go get the water, because if I get changed with you in the room, Alaric and Jeremy are going to be very upset." Elena said.

"As long as I won't be walking into an interrogation in the kitchen, I can definitely accommodate your request." Elijah replied.

"I can't promise you that." She commented with a smile.

"I've already had short conversations with both your brother and Alaric. Jeremy doesn't seem to mind my presence here, but Alaric is a different story. Is there more to your relationship with him beyond just him being your guardian and teacher?" Elijah asked.

"He's a friend, and technically my step-father, and if Klaus hadn't killed Jenna, there was the possibility of him maybe becoming my uncle, but other than all of that, no, there isn't more to our relationship." Elena explained.

"You're step-father?" Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You know that Grayson and Miranda adopted me, right?" Elena questioned, and when Elijah nodded, she continued. "John Gilbert is- was- my biological father, and my biological mother was Alaric's ex-wife, Isobel Flemming. So not only am I a descendant of the Petrova bloodline on my mother's side, due to Katherine having had a daughter before she met you and your family, but I am also a Gilbert." She explained.

"A very mixed set of DNAs for a doppelgänger." Elijah commented.

"It wasn't until Jenna finally told me that I had been adopted that we found out that Alaric's ex-wife was my biological mother. And even later after that when we found out that John was my biological father. So, the people that I thought were my parents, are my aunt and uncle, on my dad's side. But because I was raised by them, Jenna being my mom's sister, still makes her my aunt, and therefore, if she had lived and had married Alaric, he would have been my uncle." She furthered the explanation.

"Then I shall tread carefully around him. Because above all else, he is your guardian and your step-father." Elijah said with a nod before placing a kiss on Elena's forehead and exiting the room so that she could get changed for bed.

Once Elijah was out of the room, and had closed her bedroom door behind him, Elena took a deep breath. Was she still drunk? She had basically just given Elijah her whole life story, and with as many times as she had trusted him in the past and he had turned around and betrayed her, was there a chance that he would do the same now? Use what she had told him tonight against her? Or even worse, give the information that Klaus didn't already have to him so that Klaus could continue to use her family against her? Klaus had already used Isobel and Jenna, and had, on multiple occasions, used Jeremy against her. Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, Elena crawled off her bed while grabbing her pajamas (which currently consisted of a pair of booty shorts and a thin tank top) and headed to the bathroom. After quickly changing, Elena started to brush her teeth, which is when Jeremy cleared his throat.

"So, you and Elijah?" He asked.

"It's not like that Jer." Elena replied around a mouth full of toothpaste.

"Then what is it like, Elena? Because you could have easily called me, or Ric, and instead, you called Elijah." Jeremy argued.

"I don't know Jeremy, okay? But does it really matter that much? I called him, he came to pick me up and he brought me home and has promised to make sure I'm okay through the night. Why are you upset that I called him over you or Alaric?" Elena asked after spitting her toothpaste into the sink.

"I have no issue with him bringing you home, because I would rather someone who wasn't drinking bring you home, but you're really okay with him staying the night? And you really trust him to look after you? He might be over 1000 years old, Elena, but he's still a vampire, and he's still a guy. And any guy who has eyes can see that you are attractive. You trust him to not take advantage of you?" Jeremy questioned.

"Do you really think he can't hear these accusations, Jer? He's a vampire, and he has heightened senses, including super hearing. But please, continue to berate me for calling Elijah." Elena said before storming out of the bathroom and back into her room and slamming the door in her brother's face.

Anything that Jeremy might have been about to say flew from Elena's mind as soon as she saw that Elijah was standing by the window, looking out at the night. Whether he saw her reflection in the window, or it was slamming the bathroom door shut that alerted him to her returning, or just his vampire senses, Elena wasn't sure, but Elijah was turning towards her and in a blink of an eye, he was in front of her, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"I'm sorry, Elijah." Elena said into his chest.

"You have nothing to apologize for, sweet Elena. You were defending your actions, it's Jeremy that should be apologizing." Elijah replied before pressing his lips to her forehead once again.

"Did Ric give you any grief when you were in the kitchen?" Elena asked as she reluctantly pulled out of Elijah's arms.

"He wasn't downstairs. He was, however, waiting for me at the top of the stairs when I returned with the glass of water. He insisted that your door stay partly opened and assured me that he would be making routine checks throughout the night to ensure that I'm not taking advantage of you." Elijah responded. "I agreed to his terms, as per our discussion before I went downstairs, and I shall be staying on the window seat, unless you need me for anything specific." He added.

"You don't have to do that, Elijah. You can lay on top of the covers." Elena insisted.

"Your step-father is a Vampire Hunter, Elena. I would prefer to not get on his bad side any more than I probably already have with the times that I've gone back on my word in the name of my family." Elijah said before turning them around so that his back was to the doorway. "Say the word, and I will compel him to allow you to make the decision on where in your room I stay tonight." He added in a low voice.

"There's no need. If you are trying to get into his good graces, then it would be for the best if you stay on the window seat." Elena said with a sad smile.

Elijah nodded in agreement to Elena's decision before reaching over to her nightstand and grabbing the glass of water to hand it to her. While he silently wished that he could fall asleep with Elena in his arms, doing so in her house with her brother two rooms away, and her step-father/teacher/guardian planning routine checks throughout the night, Elijah knew that Elena's decision to not have him compel Alaric was the best choice. Once Elena had taken a few sips of water, Elijah returned the glass to the nightstand and helped Elena into bed.

"You'll be here all night?" Elena questioned as she curled up under the covers.

"All night. If you need anything that won't get me staked or daggered, then I will do it for you." Elijah confirmed.

"Scared of Alaric?" She asked with a smirk.

"Not at all. I just don't want you to lose someone else in your life." He replied while brushing her hair away from her face.

"Thank you for everything, Elijah. It really means a lot." Elena commented as she leaned into his hand.

"How could I deny the birthday girl her reasonable requests?" Elijah asked.

"I'm holding you to what you said in the car." She commented.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. Now sleep, my dear, sweet Elena. You need it after how much you drank tonight." He said.

"You call me that a lot, you know."

"I am aware."

"Why do you call me that?"

"Because it's the closest thing I can say to what I really want to be saying. But that will come in time."

"What is it that you want to say? I can handle it. I'm a big girl, Elijah."

"All in due time, Elena. You have my word on that."

Elena sighed. Elijah was going to be stubborn, but she could work with that. She would continue to spend time with him. Get him to break down the walls he had up. She would get him to tell her what he wished he could be saying. There was plenty of time to get in close enough.

"Goodnight Elijah." Elena said softly.

"Goodnight Elena. And Happy Birthday." Elijah replied in turn.


	2. Chapter 2

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 2

 **Chapter 1 Review Replies  
music.1412:** Thank you so much for your review. I hope you like this next chapter. It's not exactly the following morning, as it's still night in this chapter, but I still hope you like it.

Throughout the night, Elijah fought against every urge in his body to move from his spot on the window seat to pull Elena into his arms and hold her tight. It was difficult, but if there was anything he had learned in the 1000 years that he had been a vampire was self-control. So, he stayed where he was... for the most part. After every time that Alaric checked in to make sure Elijah wasn't in bed with Elena, Elijah would wait until he heard the door to Alaric's room click shut, he would move to the side of Elena's bed and place a light kiss on either her forehead or her cheek. It was his way of letting her know that he was still there, holding off on kissing her lips for when she was awake and consenting to that kind of kiss. He managed to hold off his urges for most of the night, but just after 2 in the morning, once he heard Alaric's bedroom door click shut once more, and Elijah made his way over to the bed, he was met with Elena staring back at him. Before he could say or do anything, Elena was sitting up on her knees and was pressing her lips to his.

"Elena..." Elijah breathed out as his hands came to rest on her hips to steady her.

"Please Elijah. I know that you thought it was just because I was drunk that I was coming on to you last night in the car, but I promise you that it wasn't. I don't want Stefan, or Damon, or anyone else. I want you." Elena said against his lips.

"Have you been able to sleep at all?" Elijah asked, trying to steer the conversation away from sleeping together.

"No. I pretended to be asleep to see what you would do when Alaric returned to his room, and with each passing kiss where you didn't touch me or try anything that would be seen as taking advantage of me, my feelings just continued to grow." Elena replied.

"We can't, sweet Elena. Not now, not here." Elijah said, hating the words even as they feel from his lips.

"Then take me somewhere else. Take me away. Take me somewhere that we can be alone, and no one could find us. I want to be with you, Elijah." Elena insisted.

"No, Elena. If I take you away in the middle of the night, Alaric will surely come after me. It wouldn't just be him, either. Jeremy, Damon, and all your friends would join him, too. And that would be putting you in danger and in a spot where you would have to choose between me, and them, and I don't want any of that to happen to you. You mean too much to me to allow that to happen. So, while it is very tempting to take you up on your offer, I must deny you for now." Elijah said with a kiss to her forehead.

"Then if nothing else, really kiss me. Not on the forehead, not on the cheek or on the back of my hand. Give me a real kiss. Promise me that you'll give me what I'm asking for soon, and then seal it with a kiss." Elena said.

"My dear, sweet, beautiful Elena, I promise you, with my entire being, that I will give you what you are asking for. I just can't give it to you tonight." Elijah responded before pressing his lips to hers in a deep kiss.

As the kiss started to deepen, Elena wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck as his grip on her hips tightened. Elena felt herself falling, but her back never hit the mattress like she thought it would. Even in the middle of a passionate kiss, Elijah was a gentleman and wouldn't allow themselves to do anything more than kiss. While she admired that about him, she still wanted more. She tried to press for more by moving one hand down from his neck to the buttons on his shirt, but before she could get more than one unbuttoned, Elijah quickly pulled away from the kiss and grasped Elena's wrist.

"Not tonight, Elena." Elijah warned, his voice and eyes hard.

"You want this too, Elijah, I know you do. I can feel it. Stop fighting it and just give in." Elena argued as she got off the bed and tried to close the distance between them.

"Elena, I can't. Not. Tonight." Elijah stressed.

"What is so special about tonight that is stopping you?" Elena asked in a small voice as it finally sunk in what he was saying.

"So many things. The main thing being that I gave Alaric my word that I would respect you this evening. And you of all people know that I am a man of my word." Elijah explained.

"Tomorrow night, then?" Elena asked quietly, knowing full well that he would still be able to hear her.

"Yes, tomorrow evening. I will take you out to a nice dinner for your birthday, and then we can retire to my place for the night." Elijah agreed. "But please, Elena, at least try to get some sleep."

Elena pouted, half hoping that it would work on Elijah to get a little bit of what she was wanting, but he only leveled her with a stern look. With a sigh, she plopped herself back down onto her bed and stared at Elijah, now wanting to see if her stubbornness would get him to at least move closer. Elijah responded by retaking his spot on the window seat. _'Fine'_ , Elena thought to herself, _'pouting and stubbornness don't work. I'll figure out what it takes to get him to let his walls fall and give in to me.'_ She thought, giving in to what Elijah wanted, to a degree, and pulling the covers over her body. As she lay there, Elena locked eyes with Elijah and simply stared at him, trying to pinpoint when it was that he had been the one she wanted to be there for her before her family.

"Sleep, Elena." Elijah finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen between them, as well as the staring contest. He knew that if he continued to stare at her, he would give in, and if he gave in to her, then he would be breaking his word to Alaric, and he really didn't want to test if Alaric had a way of killing an Original or not.

"I can't." Elena said.

"Why not?"

"Because you're all the way over there."

"I will not sleep with you tonight, Elena. We've been over this already."

"I'm not saying sleep, I'm saying that you come over here, sit on one side of the bed, on top of the covers, and hold me."

"If I come over to your bed, I will not be able to keep my word to your step-father, and I really wish to keep my word."

"You are absolutely no fun, Elijah Mikaelson."

"And you, Elena Gilbert, are far too tempting for your own good."

"So, you do want to be with me."

Elijah opened his mouth to refute her statement but closed it when he realized that a refusal would be a lie, and he didn't want to lie to the beautiful girl before him. With a sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"I never said that I didn't want to be with you, Elena. Just that I couldn't be with you tonight. There is a difference, and I thought you already knew how carefully I chose my words." Elijah said once he opened his eyes to look at her again.

"If we don't do anything, and if you're on top of the covers while I'm underneath, I don't see how there can be an issue." Elena argued.

"Because, Elena, even if I am sitting on the bed, I will not be able to hold my temptations at bay, because we will be touching. Whereas if I'm over here, there is distance between us, and I can control myself. That is why I never touched you when I would come over and kiss you on your forehead or cheek. And why I kept it at that." Elijah replied.

"I'm too tempting for my own good, and you're too self-punishing. You don't think you would be able to control yourself, but you aren't even putting yourself into the situation where you would have to control yourself. You are a grown man, Elijah, much older than Ric, and I'm 18 years old. If you want to hold me in your arms while I sleep, then you should be allowed to. No matter how you worded your promise to Ric. You made _me_ a promise that you would take care of me tonight. And I'm asking you to hold me while I sleep." Elena said, her gaze even with Elijah's.

"I know myself better than you know me, Elena. And I know that I would not be able to keep myself from doing more than just holding you. You haven't slept off the alcohol that you consumed, so that, above all else, is what is keeping me at bay. I want to know for sure that when the alcohol is out of your system that you still want this." Elijah said.

"And if I were to come over to the window seat?" Elena challenged.

"You would be far too uncomfortable to fall asleep, and I would move to the other side of the room." Elijah answered immediately.

"You are determined to make this as difficult as possible, aren't you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Elena, I care too much about you to go back on my word this evening. Now unless you want me to compel you to get some sleep, please try to do so on your own." Elijah said, his voice softening from the sternness he had been using.

"I'm not tired, though." Elena commented with a half-hearted shrug before attempting to stifle a yawn.

"That yawn says otherwise." Elijah replied with a knowing look.

"Has anyone told you that you can be as annoying as your brother?" Elena asked, trying to keep her eyes open.

"On occasions, Rebekah has reminded me of this fact, yes." Elijah replied.

"But she's your baby sister, isn't she supposed to be annoying you, not the other way around?"

"Older siblings can annoy their younger siblings in the name of constantly trying to protect their younger siblings. I'm sure Jeremy can attest to this."

"Right. Forgot about that part." Elena said as a blush crept onto her cheeks.

"What can I reasonably do to help you go to sleep?" Elijah asked.

"It's childish." Elena whispered, diverting her gaze for the first time.

"If it helps you sleep, then I don't think it's childish." Elijah replied with a raised eyebrow.

"That's because I haven't told you what it is." Elena mumbled before she raised her gaze and started at him. "Tell me a story?" She requested.

Elijah's eyebrow remained raised at the girl's request. He stood by his comment that it wasn't childish, but that didn't mean that it didn't come as a surprise to him. Shifting so that his legs were stretched out along the window seat, Elijah leaned his back against the bookshelf, glancing up at the ceiling before his head fell to the side a few moments later to look at Elena.

"What kind of story would you like to hear?"

"Anything that has nothing to do with supernatural beings."

It was a simple enough request, in theory, but for being as he had lived in the supernatural world for over 1000 years, it was going to be difficult to think of a story, whether truth or fiction, that wasn't touched by the supernatural. Glancing back at the ceiling, Elijah tried to think of something, but kept coming up short, and it was causing his brow to furrow, and Elena couldn't help but let out a little giggle at how normal he looked in that very moment. He didn't look like the composed Original Vampire that he was. He looked to be at a complete loss, and it humanized him in a way that made Elena even more attracted to him.

"I didn't mean to stump you with that one, Elijah." She said with a small smile.

"My world has been etched deep within the supernatural for the last 1000 plus years, Elena. I am simply trying to think if there were any stories that my mother told us when we were children that didn't have a supernatural element to them. Unfortunately, I cannot recall any." He said looking back at her.

"What about a supernatural twist on a forbidden love, like Romeo and Juliet?" Elena asked. "I'm sure there's something in that in which you can work with."

"You are toeing a very dangerous line, Miss Gilbert." Elijah said, but started weaving the tale of Romeo and Juliet, supernaturally charging the story to the point where Elena knew that he was seeing himself as Romeo, and her as Juliet. He always had been good with his words.

Before either of them knew it, Elena had fallen asleep, and her breathing had evened out, which caused Elijah to taper his speech off as he took in the sleeping girl. His earlier realization that she looked peacefully beautiful was reinforced 10-fold when she was fully sleeping. Moving from the window seat to the side of the bed, Elijah pulled the covers up over Elena's body and simply stood there, watching her sleep. The clearing of a throat from the doorway was the only thing that pulled him from his thoughts.

"Alaric." Elijah acknowledged.

"You have a way with words, Elijah." The other man commented.

"So I've been told."

"You know there was a lot of truth behind what you were saying, right? The two of you can't be together."

"While I would usually be inclined to believe you, should that not be a decision that Elena and I make together? She is of legal age, Alaric. She might be your step-daughter, and your charge, but she is capable of making her own decisions."

"With as many enemies as I'm sure your family has amassed in the years that you have been vampires, you would be putting her in constant danger by being with her." Alaric commented.

"So it's her well-being, and not the age difference that you are worried about." Elijah replied with a smirk. "I know of the risks that would arise from us being in a relationship together. But that is still something that she and I should decide together. Tonight is in no way the right setting for that serious of a conversation. She has tried to seduce me, but I have over 1000 years of self-control that has helped me in keeping my word to you." He added, the smirk fading just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Are you expecting me to give the two of you my blessing?" Alaric asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sure Elena would appreciate it. You are the only parental figure she has left. If we were to start a relationship, and it progressed to the point where marriage and family was being discussed, I'm sure she would want the only father-figure she has left to not only give his blessing but give her away as well. And I'm not just saying she would want that with me, but with any serious relationship she has going forward, if for whatever reason we decide it won't work between us." Elijah replied, finally pulling his gaze away from Elena's sleeping form and looked up at the hunter.

"I won't give it pre-emptively, if that's what you're waiting for." Alaric said.

"I wasn't. But I do have a question for you, Alaric." Elijah said as he moved back to the window seat.

"What would that be?" Alaric asked.

"Your protective instincts where Elena is concerned, do they stem from the fact that you were married to her biological mother, or because you were dating her aunt before my brother mercilessly killed her?" Elijah inquired.

"Who says it's one over the other?" Alaric quipped. "But it's both, although more because of the latter than the former. When Isobel and I were married, she never mentioned that she had had a child before meeting me and us getting married."

"And after everything that my brother did, being a key player in the death of both your wife and your girlfriend, was that what spurred you into becoming Elena and Jeremy's guardian?"

"They have lost literally everyone else that they had to look out for them, I wasn't going to abandon them after losing Jenna." Alaric snapped.

"I am not judging you in any way, Alaric. I am just trying to get to know you better. I'm sorry if my questions offend you. That is not my intention." Elijah said as he held his hands up in surrender.

"Why are you still here, anyway? I thought you would have been gone by now." Alaric said, changing the topic after a few moments of silence.

"I promised Elena that I would watch over her tonight to make sure she was okay. I have no intention of going back on that promise."

"So you're going to be here in the morning for an awkward family breakfast?" Alaric asked, his eyebrow raising once more.

"Once Elena wakes up, if she would like me to stay for breakfast, I will do so. But I will not leave before she wakes up." Elijah replied.

"For someone who has betrayed Elena as many times as you've kept your word, you are an honorable man, Elijah. I think with time we will be able to come to an understanding of where we stand with her." Alaric said.

"I'm sure you're right."


	3. Chapter 3

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 3

 **Chapter 2 Review Replies:**

 **HisSecretLover18:** Thank you for your review. While I have no intention of not continuing, future updates might come a slower pace, as work is about to pick up for me (at the time of writing this, anyway).

Elena woke the next morning to the sun shining in through the window and hitting her face. When she went to open her eyes, she expected to be blinded by the sun, due to being hungover, but before that could happened, the sun was blocked by someone else. Slowly opening her eyes, letting them adjust to the brightness of the room, she was met with Elijah smiling down at her. Smiling back, Elena went to sit up and groaned, moving to cradle her head in her hands as her headache hit. When she felt the bed dip, and Elijah's arm wrapping around her shoulders, Elena fell against him, and turned to bury her face in his chest.

"Good morning, sweet Elena." Elijah murmured into the top of her head.

"You being here is the only thing that makes it 'good'." Elena grumbled in return, trying to bury her head further into his chest to block out the sun.

"I'd like to say that you making it through the night and still being alive after drinking as much as you did last night is what makes it good to me." Elijah replied.

"Sappy."

"Maybe, but I don't know what I would do if you weren't in my life."

"Aw, the strong, stoic, noble Elijah does care."

"Is now really the time for joking, Elena?"

The only response he got was another grumble as Elena used all her strength to push him backwards, so he was laying down before she curled into his side. Elijah knew that he should object, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Something about laying with Elena in his arms, curled up against him felt right, and he found himself mentally kicking himself for not allowing himself to indulge in this the night before.

"I still want it, Elijah." Elena muttered a few minutes later as she drew random shapes on his chest with her finger tip.

"Then I shall take you out on a date, and when we get back to my place, I will give it to you." Elijah replied.

"A date?" Elena asked, lifting her head to meet his gaze.

"After you finally fell asleep earlier this morning, I had a conversation with Alaric, and I came to the realization that if you are wanting to have a physical relationship with me, that it would best if we try an actual relationship as well. One in which I take you out on dates, and, if you want it, for me to call you my girlfriend, and for you to call me your boyfriend. But before the latter happens, a first date needs to take place, and we need to have a full discussion on what a relationship with each other would entail." Elijah responded while running his fingers through her hair.

"You and Ric had a conversation? About us?" Elena questioned, her eyes going wide.

"He's concerned that being in a relationship with me would put you at constant risk." Elijah explained.

"I'm an adult, I can consent to being in a relationship with you, even if there are risks. There's risks to any relationship." Elena said as she moved her body up and pressed her lips to Elijah's.

As the kiss deepened, Elijah lightly gripped Elena's sides and maneuvered her so that she was laying more on top of him and in a more comfortable position. It was against his better judgement to make that move, but his words from the night before still rang true. Elena was too tempting for her own good, and after resisting his urges all night, he didn't have it in him in that moment to deny her. When Elijah moved her on top of him, Elena lightly moaned into his mouth and straddled his hips. If he wasn't going to try and stop this, then she was going to take it as far as she could. Her tongue darted out of her mouth and swiped along Elijah's bottom lip. It was at that moment that there was a clearing of a throat that broke the two apart.

"You just couldn't wait to get your hands on her, could you?" Alaric asked with a narrowed gaze, his voice hard.

"It's my choice who I want to be with, Alaric. I appreciate your concern, but I'm 18 years old now, an adult, I can be with whomever I want." Elena said, not moving from Elijah's lap.

"His family has a long list of enemies that will not hesitate to use you to get to him, Elena. You understand that, don't you?" Alaric questioned.

"Of course I understand that. But anyone stupid enough to use a loved one of an Original against them deserves what they get." Elena replied.

"No one said anything about 'love'." Alaric growled, his eyes going from Elena to Elijah.

"Calm down, Ric. It's a general term here." Elena said as Elijah moved her off himself and settled her on the bed next to him.

"As I told you earlier, Alaric, it's a conversation that Elena and I need to have. And I'm sure once _we_ have come to a decision, she'll inform you of that decision." Elijah said, a hand on Elena's back, gently rubbing it to pre-emptively calm her down.

"Get dressed and come down for breakfast." Alaric said, his jaw clenched and his hands flexing as if wanting to turn them into fists and punch Elijah.

Elena waited for Alaric to leave, closing the door behind him before she turned to face Elijah. He was staring at her intently, and it made her giggle. Moving to straddle his hips again, Elena pressed her lips to Elijah's once more, opting for a slower, more chaste kiss. Despite the change of pace of the kiss, Elijah's hands still drifted to Elena's back to hold her close: one wrapping around her waist, and the other trailing up her spine to cradle the back of her head.

"I'm surprised he didn't comment on the age difference." Elena muttered when the pulled away so that she could get some air.

"Physically, I look to be around my mid-20s, Elena. You being 18, for anyone who doesn't know what I am, it wouldn't be a big deal, and I think that's why Alaric is more focused on your safety than on the age difference." Elijah replied while brushing some of her hair behind her ear.

"How old were you? When your mother turned you and your siblings?" Elena asked.

"24 at the oldest. It's been so long that I can't remember for sure how old I was." Elijah responded.

"So physically, there's only 6 years between us." Elena said thoughtfully, causing Elijah to nod.

"You should get changed, Elena. I have a feeling that if we aren't downstairs for breakfast soon, Alaric might come back up, or he might send Jeremy to check on us, and I doubt think you want your brother to see you in such a compromising position." Elijah said before placing a kiss on Elena's forehead.

"I can think of a more compromising position that would worse for Jeremy to find us in." Elena commented.

"Tonight, after I take you out on a date." Elijah said nipping at Elena's lower lip.

When the tip of Elijah's fangs poke through and broke skin on Elena's lips, they both moaned when the blood bubbled to the surface and Elijah swiped it away with his tongue. Elijah could feel the veins beneath his eyes start to show up at the taste of Elena's blood, and in a blink of an eye, he was on the other side of the room, leaving Elena sitting on the bed, confused and looking a bit hurt.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I shouldn't have nipped your lip." Elijah said as he breathed deeply, despite it being unnecessary.

"I don't mind, Elijah. I know that you need to feed to survive, and on occasion, you might need to feed from me." Elena said as she moved from the bed and moved towards him.

"Elena, I never want to hurt you. And even from that small drop of blood, I can tell you that there is a chance that if I feed from you, that I wouldn't be able to stop." Elijah replied.

"You really don't think very highly of yourself, do you, Elijah?" Elena asked as she closed the distance between them and placed her hands on either side of his face. "If you aren't going to have faith in yourself, then I'll have faith for both of us."

"I can't ask you to do that, Elena. It wouldn't be fair of me."

"You aren't asking, Elijah; I'm offering."

"I can't let you offer, either. Elena, I am a vampire, and the act of feeding from someone you have a strong attachment to can be dangerous." Elijah explained. "The blood of that person is more potent to a vampire, and even if I were to stop myself, I would constantly crave your blood, and would have a hard time feeding any other way. So unless there is absolutely no other way, I can not taste your blood again."

"Okay, no feeding unless it's an emergency." Elena agreed with a nod. They were getting somewhere.

"You should get dressed, sweet Elena. I'll meet you downstairs." Elijah said, his body relaxing slightly.

"Help me pick something out?" Elena asked hopefully, but when she was met with a raised eyebrow from Elijah, she waved him off as if to say never mind.

After a lingering kiss to Elena's lips, Elijah made his way out of the room and headed for the stairs. Elena was rooted to the spot as her fingers absentmindedly ghosted over her lips, still feeling Elijah's own lips moving against hers. She honestly didn't know how long she stood there, replying the kiss over and repeatedly, but it was the combination of Elijah's presence, and his insistence that she answer her phone that finally pulled her out of the trance. Giving Elijah an embarrassed smile, she took her phone from his hand, and answered the call.

"Hello?" She asked.

" **Elena? Thank goodness. What happened to you last night? You were at the party and then you were gone. And I could have sworn I saw Elijah Mikaelson come into the Mystic Grill and grab your jacket and purse.** " Caroline's voice was clear as day to the Original Vampire, and he couldn't help but smirk as he pressed a loving kiss on Elena's shoulder.

"I was really drunk and tired and I called Elijah to ask him to pick me up and take me home." Elena replied as she moved to her closet and pulled out a red and white dress that came to just above her knees along with a black leather jacket and a pair of ankle boots.

" **Why didn't you just ask Damon? He wasn't drunk.** " Caroline asked.

"Do you really think that Damon, of all people, would have been a gentleman when I was drunk?" Elena asked as she tossed the outfit onto her bed and walked to her dresser to grab some underwear before tossing them on the bed as well.

" **I guess you're right. But then why didn't you call Jeremy or Alaric? Why did you call Elijah? Unless there's something that you've been keeping from me and Bonnie, and you've been secretly hooking up with him since Stefan left.** " Caroline inquired, and Elena could see her best friend narrowing her eyes just from the tone of her voice.

"Trust me, Care. I have not been secretly hooking up with Elijah. And I'm not sure why, but in my drunken state, he was the first person that I thought of who wasn't at the party. And before you say anything else, you should know that he's still here, and can hear everything you're saying." Elena said.

" **Still there? Elena Gilbert, did you sleep with an Original last night?** " Caroline asked.

"Nope, Elijah was a perfect gentleman last night, and stayed on the window seat to watch over me last night to make sure I was okay." Elena said as she moved closer to Elijah and wrapped her arm around his waist in a hug.

" **Elena, do you have a thing for him? Because you're already in like, constant danger because of his deranged brother. Wouldn't getting cozy with him be putting yourself in even more danger? Not just from Klaus but any enemies he's made through the years?** "

"You sound like Ric. I know he has enemies, and we are going to talk about everything and figure out what to do going forward."

" **Well, you should really listen to Alaric and I. We know what we're talking about. Besides, Alaric is essentially your step-father.** "

"I know that Alaric is basically my step-father, and Elijah is aware as well. But I'm 18, so any decision that Elijah and I come to together, it's up to us."

" **And the age difference? You're not worried about that?** "

"Physically, he's 24, Care. I'm 18, that's 6 years. And anyone who doesn't know that he's a vampire wouldn't think much of it. But it's not like I haven't dated someone that's considerably older than me. Stefan is over 150 years older than me."

" **But he looks to be the same age as you.** " Caroline said. " **You're my best friend, Elena. And of him and his siblings, Elijah is probably the nicest of them, so if the two of you decide that you are going to give a relationship a shot, I'll support you. I just wouldn't tell Damon.** " She warned.

"I had no intention of telling Damon, because it's none of his business. If it gets back to him, then it gets back to him, but I'm not going to go out of my way to tell him." Elena said with a small smile as Elijah placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I'll talk to you later, okay, Care? Elijah and I are planning on spending the day together." She added.

" **Girl's night tonight?** " Caroline asked, and Elena could hear the hopefulness in her best friend's voice.

"Not tonight, but we can have a girl's night tomorrow." She said. "But thank you for the party last night, Care. Thank you for having it be a small gathering."

" **Of course. You said that you wanted something small. And we can totally do our girl's night tomorrow. I'll let Bonnie know. Have a good day with Elijah, 'Lena.** " Caroline said before the call ended and Elena looked up at Elijah.

"Thank you for not making that call difficult on me."

"I would never think of doing that, sweet Elena. I am not a torturous man." Elijah said with a playful wink.

"You are more relaxed this morning than I've ever seen you. Can I take that as a good thing?" She asked.

"Of course you can. But you should really get dressed. Alaric and Jeremy want to talk to you." He replied as he nudged her towards her bed. "And I love the choice of dress. I'm sure you'll look gorgeous in it." He added in a whisper before kissing her cheek and leaving her alone once again so that she could get dressed.

Dread filled Elena's body at Elijah saying that Ric and Jeremy wanted to talk to her but was replaced by a shiver of excitement at his whispered words. As she moved to pick her clothes up and head to the bathroom to change, Elena's phone vibrated in her hand, indicating an incoming text. Glancing at her phone, she rolled her eyes. Of course Damon would text her like he had a right to check up on her. Unlocking the phone, she deleted the text conversation with both Damon and Stefan before going into her contacts and blocking both Salvatore brothers. If there was to be a chance that she and Elijah could work, then she couldn't let herself be pulled back into the Salvatores' orbit, even if Stefan was off only god knows where with Klaus. Opening her group text with Caroline and Bonnie, she sent them a quick text.

 **I'm cutting Stefan and Damon out of my life. I can't let myself be pulled back in by either of them. – E**

Once she hit send, she placed her phone on her nightstand and headed into the bathroom. Deciding on a quick shower, she turned the water on before turning her music on. Once the water was to the right temperature she stepped in and quickly washed the slight lingering smell of alcohol off her body and out of her hair. Turning the water off and stepping out, she wrapped her towel around her body while moving to the sink to wash her face. 15 minutes later, Elena was making her way downstairs and she could faintly hear Alaric and Jeremy talking to Elijah. _'More like interrogating him.'_ Elena thought to herself with a slight cringe before hurrying the rest of the way down the stairs and into the kitchen to come to Elijah's rescue.

"That's enough interrogating. Elijah said you wanted to talk to me?" Elena questioned while placing a hand on Elijah's arm.

"Since you went out with your friends last night for your birthday, we were thinking we could go out to dinner for your birthday tonight." Jeremy said.

"Unfortunately tonight and tomorrow night are both out of the question. Elijah already asked to take me out for a birthday dinner tonight, and I'm having a girl's night with Caroline and Bonnie tomorrow night. But the night after that is open." Elena replied.

"When did he ask you this?" Alaric asked, looking between Elena and Elijah.

"I asked her this morning once she woke up." Elijah replied for Elena, his arm wrapping around her waist and possessively pulling her into his side.

"Can you stop doing that?" Alaric snapped.

"Doing what?" Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Touching my step-daughter. Especially in front of me."

"We're really going to use that label for what we are to each other, Ric?" Elena asked, her eyes wide.

"Yes, we are. It's easier than me being your teacher that sleeps on your couch because the only other parental figure you had was killed... by his brother." Alaric replied, his eyes landing pointedly on where Elijah's hand still rested on Elena's hip.

"I'm. An. Adult. Alaric." Elena said through gritted teeth. "I will always appreciate your concern, but I am legally an adult, so I can make my own decisions. And if I want to be in a relationship with Elijah, then I will be."

"We're just worried about your safety, 'Lena." Jeremy said.

"And I appreciate that, Jer. But everyone seems to think I'm fragile and need to be protected at all costs. But have either of you taken a moment to think that being with Elijah might be the best protection I can have, especially from Klaus?" Elena asked glancing between Alaric and Jeremy.

"But it also puts you in more danger, because you would be closer to his inner circle." Jeremy argued.

"I'm not going to continue to have this discussion. Nothing has been decided yet on if we are going to pursue a relationship with each other, so all your worrying might be for nothing. But let us come to that decision on our own." Elena said while taking Elijah's hand in hers and linking their fingers together. "Let's go, Elijah. I'm not all that hungry." She added.

Once out of the kitchen, Elijah blurred them out of the house and to his car. Once they were alone, Elijah pulled Elena onto his lap and pressed his lips to hers in a slow, loving kiss, with one hand resting on her hip, and the other on the back of her neck. When Elena pulled away for air, Elijah moved his lips along her jaw and down to her neck, being conscious of _not_ giving in to the urge to bite her.

"What are we going to do all day? Since you only mentioned taking me out on a date tonight, and then going back to your place." Elena asked while running her fingers through Elijah's hair.

"I might just keep you to myself all day." Elijah said in a low voice.

"Do you want to go to your place now and talk about everything to get that out of the way?" Elena inquired.

"My dear, sweet Elena, if I take you to my place now, I will want to do everything but talk." Elijah said with a groan when Elena scraped her nails along his scalp.

"Then we need to go somewhere public so that we have a better chance of keeping our hands to ourselves." Elena said when she pulled back to look Elijah in the eye.

"How quickly the rolls are reversed, sweet Elena. Last night all you could think about was getting me into your bed, and now that is what I am offering, you are being the responsible one." Elijah said with a smirk.

"We can't both be irresponsible at the same time. We need to keep a balance if this is going to work." Elena replied. "And just in case it wasn't clear, I really want this to work."

"As do I." Elijah replied, placing one last kiss on Elena's lips before settling her on the seat next to him.

"Can you take me to the woods that used to be your family's village? We could talk there, and we wouldn't be interrupted." Elena suggested, and Elijah nodded before driving off.


	4. Chapter 4

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 4

 **A/N:** I realized part way through the 3rd chapter that there are some diverges from show canon that should be addressed. Aside from Klaus daggering Elijah, the events of seasons 1 and 2 happened. The story is AU starting from the beginning of season 3. So Stefan will not be present much in the story, as he is off with Klaus being The Ripper. And then as far as Elena's request at the end of the 3rd chapter, in which she asked to go to the woods that used to be the village where the Mikaelsons' lived, I know in the show Elijah took Elena there after the ball, but that has changed for the sake of the story.

Once the car came to a stop, Elena glanced out the window. It was peaceful. And far enough away from town that it made her forget that they were still technically in Mystic Falls. But the seclusion was nice. No prying eyes, or whispers of the poor Gilbert girl walking around with the mysterious Mikaelson. They could just be free from all the stress out here. They could hold hands. They could pretend that they were a normal couple, taking a walk through the woods outside of town. Elena wanted that more than anything. To have all the supernatural stuff in their life (Elijah's status as a vampire aside) left back in town for a few hours. So, when Elijah walked around the car and opened the passenger side door for her, while offering her his hand, Elena immediately took and linked their hands together before leaning into his side.

"Its beautiful out here. Was it always this peaceful when you were growing up?" Elena asked as she took in the sights around her.

"Yes and no. Before Henrik's death, it was peaceful, but after Niklaus convinced Henrik to sneak out with him to see the werewolves, and it resulted in Henrik being mauled and killed by one, the peace was shattered." Elijah replied turning to place a kiss on the top of her head.

"How soon after his death were the rest of you turned into vampires?"

"Within days, if I recall correctly. Well before the next full moon, since Niklaus' werewolf side came out when he made his first human kill as a vampire close to the following month's full moon."

"Were you ever scared for your other siblings once it was revealed that he was half werewolf?"

"There wasn't a chance to be scared for them, as I had attacked Tatia shortly after that, and my mother used her blood to bind Niklaus' curse." Elijah said. "His werewolf side was bound by a doppelgänger's blood, which was why it was so pertinent that he had a doppelgänger to break the curse."

"Do you ever miss them?" Elena asked in a small voice.

"Who? Tatia and Katerina?" Elijah questioned, and Elena nodded. "Not in the least. Both of your processors came between my brother and I. Niklaus and I were close before we both vying for Tatia's affections after her husband passed. And our relationship never fully healed after that, and only worsened with Katerina."

"So you don't see them when you look at me?" Elena asked.

"Absolutely not. You are your own person, sweet Elena. You might share the face of two woman that I thought I loved, but your personality sets you far apart from them. When I look at you, I see you and only you." Elijah explained, turning Elena to face him and pulling her into a deep kiss.

As the kiss deepened, Elijah backed Elena up against a tree before swiftly lifting her into his arms. Whether she consciously moved with him, or if it was a subconscious action, Elijah smiled into the kiss when Elena wrapped her arms and legs around his body. He was thankful that she had decided to wear a dress today. As with their previous kisses, it was Elena's necessity for air that pulled them apart. Elena tried to even her breathing, but the way Elijah was staring at her was making it difficult to do so. Leaning forward, she rested her head on his shoulder, and Elijah simply held her to his body.

"We got sidetracked." Elena finally said.

"I don't mind talking about my family with you, Elena." Elijah commented.

"Not with that. With this..." Elena clarified, motioning between them after she lifted her head from his shoulder and leaned back against the tree so that she could look him in the eye.

"Do you regret any of this?" The question was accompanied by wide eyes and raised eyebrow.

"Of course not. But the whole reason we came out here was so that we could talk and make an official decision on what we want to do going forward, and to limit the temptation of making love before we had made our decision. I guess coming to a secluded part of the woods wasn't the best plan for the last part of that, huh?"

"As I mentioned last night, you are too tempting for your own good, sweet Elena. And I wanted to ease your mind that I only want you and am in no way using you as a placeholder for either of your ancestors." Elijah commented.

"It worked." Elena said with a small smile.

"Are you sure you want to be with me, Elena? If you say you don't want to be with me, I won't hold it against you." Elijah said as he gently placed her back on her feet.

"If I say that now, I'll be left wondering if it was really my decision or feeling like I was pressured into it by Alaric and Jeremy." Elena replied. "If nothing else, I want us to go through with the plan for tonight. Dinner and then going back to your place."

"I can work with that." Elijah said dipping his head down and placing a soft kiss on her lips before pulling back and taking her hand in his.

Over the next few hours, the pair walked through the woods, simply enjoying the other's company. Elijah told her more about what the area looked like when he had been younger, what his family was like before they were turned. Elena returned the favor by telling him about her life growing up. Being best friends with Bonnie and Caroline since childhood, going to her family's lake house. They both stopped their respective stories when it reached the shift from normal to supernatural. It was only at Elena's mention of getting hungry, and them returning to the car that a question flitted across Elijah's mind that he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to. He needed to ask it anyway.

"My dear, sweet Elena are you at all interested in becoming a vampire at any point?" Elijah asked once they were settled into the front seat of the car.

"Before the ritual, I would have quickly answered with a 'no'. But now I'm not sure. If I become a vampire, Klaus would have less of a reason to still want me dead. And I wouldn't put you through the pain of possibly falling in love with me, only to see me die of old age. But on the flip side, I would never be able to have children of my own, since vampires can't reproduce. And while I had never really considered it before, it's something that has been on my mind a lot recently." Elena replied.

"And yet, you still want to see if we have potential."

It was a statement, Elena knew that, but she nodded anyway.

"Believe me, Elijah, if there was a way that I could have both... have a family of our own and live the rest of my life as a vampire with you, I would take that in a blink of an eye. If I can only have one, then I would choose you. I should have died a few times now, Elijah, so maybe children of my own were never supposed to be in my future. Maybe everything that has happened that has led me to you was to show me that you are the only family that I would need beyond Jeremy and Alaric and my friends." Elena said.

"I do not want you to make this decision lightly, Elena. If you want a child and then to become a vampire, we could make that happen. While the child wouldn't be able to be biologically mine, if we were to make a relationship work, I would love that child as if they were mine." Elijah said, taking both of Elena's hands in his.

"I think we should shelf this particular topic for now. We aren't even sure if a relationship between us will work. We shouldn't be talking about a family so soon." Elena said in a small voice.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Elena. I got ahead of myself. Above all else, I want you to experience as much of a human life as you can." Elijah said pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her body.

"This human is still getting hungry after not having eaten breakfast this morning." Elena commented into Elijah's chest.

"Of course." Elijah said as he turned the car on and made his way out of the woods and back to the town, heading for the Mystic Grill.

Once he had parked his car across the street, Elijah got out, walked around the front of the car to open the passenger side door for Elena, and offered her his hand. Knowing that Elijah usually kept his hands to himself in public, Elena went to take her hand back from his once she was standing in the street, but Elijah held her hand tightly as he pushed the door closed behind her.

"I have no intention of letting you go today." Elijah whispered in her ear.

With that, the two of them walked across the street, hand in hand. Elena could feel way too many sets of eyes on them, but she didn't glance around. She simply kept her eyes on Elijah. Everything was going to be okay if they didn't see...

"Elena?"

"Matt, hey." Elena said with a nervous smile and subconsciously moving closer to Elijah. "Have you met Elijah yet?" She asked.

"I, uh, don't think I have. Matt Donovan. It's nice to meet you." Matt said holding his hand out to Elijah, causing Elijah to let go of Elena's hand. She didn't let on that the loss of contact made her feel cold.

"You as well, Mr. Donovan. You're Elena's ex, correct?" Elijah asked, turning to glance at Elena to make sure he had gotten the right boy.

"Yeah, but we've been friends since we were kids." Matt said with a nod. "Can I get you two a table?" He asked.

"Yes please." Elena said quickly, linking her hand with Elijah's the second that he let go of Matt's hand.

"Right this way." Matt said, leading them to a table in the back corner, and away from the prying eyes of the other patrons.

"Thank you, Matt. And thank you for last night." Elena said with a grateful smile.

With another nod, Matt left them alone, saying that he would be back in a few minutes to take their order. Despite having placed the menus on opposite sides of the table, Elena quickly moved to the side that Elijah was sitting on and leaned into his side. With a brief kiss to her temple, Elijah moved Elena across his lap so that she was in the corner... his way of being her protector in case anyone came over and gave her any grief.

"There needs to be another place in town that my friends don't frequent, or work at, that we can go to eat at in the future." Elena commented.

"I don't mind. Would it not be better if your friends see us together so that they can get used to the idea in case we can make this all work, and so they don't think you are hiding something from them, or are pulling away from them?" Elijah questioned while wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"When you put it like that, I suppose I should agree. But what about everyone else in town?" Elena asked, her eyes darting around the dining room where other patrons are glancing over at them.

"They don't matter. The only people that matter are your friends and family. The people that are close enough to you that make you happy." Elijah said.

Before Elena could respond to that, Matt was back to take their order.

"A cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate milkshake, please." Elena said.

"Sure thing, 'Lena. And for you, Elijah?" Matt asked.

"I shall have the same, please." Elijah replied.

"Two cheeseburgers, two fries and two chocolate shakes, coming right up." Matt said and walked away.

"You're going to eat like a human?" Elena asked as she glanced up at Elijah.

"My very much human date is eating as such, and I do not want to raise suspicions as to why you are eating, and I am not." Elijah replied with a smirk.

"You could have easily said that you weren't hungry." Elena pointed out.

"I could have, but I didn't want to."

"Matt knows, by the way. He's still a human, but Caroline told him."

"Is everyone that is close to you aware of the world they are surrounded by?"

"Yeah. Caroline is a vampire, Tyler is a werewolf, Bonnie's a witch. Jeremy and Matt are human, but they know. And as you already know, Alaric is a hunter."

"You didn't mention the Salvatore brothers."

"Because as of today, I'm cutting them out of my life. I deleted the text conversations I had with each of them and blocked their contacts on my phone. And I'm not planning on going out of my way to let Damon know about us." Elena said as she drew random shapes on his thigh, her eyes downcast.

"If you still care about them, I don't want you to cut them out of your life just because of me." Elijah said as he gently lifted her head so that she was looking at him and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I do still care about Stefan, but Klaus compelled him to turn his humanity off, and he's off doing god knows what for Klaus. And I don't want to be pulled back in by them if he ever returns, so for my own sake, I needed to cut them out. That and if there's a chance that you and I can work out, I don't want to give either of them the impression that they can win me back." Elena explained.

"I can't even begin to tell you how much it pleases me to hear that, sweet Elena." Elijah said, leaning in to press his lips to hers.

The pair fell into a comfortable silence after that while waiting for their food. Right as Matt was bringing their order to them, Elijah straightened his posture and, as like that morning, wrapped an arm around Elena's waist to pull her closer. Elena opened her mouth to ask if everything was okay, but as Matt placed their food in front of them, Caroline and Bonnie slid into the booth seat across from them, both girls looking expectantly at Elena.

"Miss Forbes, and Miss Bennett, I presume." Elijah said.

"Alaric called us earlier today. He wanted us to find you and take you home. Where have you two been all day?" Caroline asked as Bonnie's gaze shifted from her best friend to the Vampire sitting across from her.

"Alaric needs to mind his own business on this. No matter what he or Jeremy says, it's not going to impact my decision." Elena said.

"He's worried about you, Elena. We all are." Bonnie said.

"Why? Why does everything have to center around me?" Elena questioned.

"You're our best friend, and we just want to make sure that you aren't doing something that you'll later regret. Like an after-death life crisis or something." Caroline said.

"What happened to this morning when you said that you would support me, Care?" Elena snapped.

"That was before Alaric called. He said that the two of you were acting differently this morning. Differently than you usually do."

"He wants both of you to come back to the house. He wants me to do a spell to make sure that no one is messing with your heads." Bonnie explained. "He thinks that Klaus might be using a witch to get to the two of you."

"Niklaus has grown increasingly more paranoid over the last 1000 years. If there is any validity to Alaric's concern, then I think it best we head back to your house after we eat." Elijah said.

Elena looked between her best friends and Elijah. She didn't want to go back to her house. She wanted to continue to spend the day with just Elijah as they continued to get to know each other. Other than the tense conversation with Alaric and Jeremy that morning in the kitchen, she had been having fun, and not worrying about much of anything. But the way that Elijah was looking at her, with such admiration and maybe even a hint of the beginnings of love, she needed to know that it was real. Everything that had transpired between them that day could have been orchestrated by Klaus, and she needed to know the truth.

"Okay. We'll go back. But after lunch. I haven't eaten anything today." Elena said as she picked up her burger and took a bite.

"Are you trying to impress Elena by ordering the same thing she did?" Bonnie asked, narrowing her eyes at Elijah.

"Not at all. I wouldn't use food to impress Elena. But then again, I'm not trying to impress her. I'm trying to get to know her while she gets to know me. It just happened to be that what she ordered sounded good." Elijah replied.

"Good answer." Caroline said.

"You two, on the other hand, I have a feeling I need to at least earn your trust, so you can determine if I'm good enough for your best friend." He continued as if Caroline hadn't spoken.

"I will be honest with you, I don't think you will ever earn my trust. But if you are who Elena wants to be with you, then I will support her decision and be there for her." Bonnie said.

"I second that notion." Caroline said with a nod.

"I understand." Elijah said. "Never the less, I shall do my best to earn it either way. For Elena's benefit." He added, taking Elena's free hand in his under the table.

"We'll see you back at your house, Elena." Bonnie said, pulling on Caroline's arm before leaning down towards Elijah. "If you are using her to draw Klaus out, and she gets hurt because of it, I will not hesitate to cause you so much pain that you will wish you were dead." She warned.

"Duly noted, Miss Bennett." Elijah said with a nod.

When they were once again alone, Elena gave Elijah an apologetic smile.

"There's no need to apologize, sweet Elena. Your friends and family are just acting in your best interest. I do not blame them for being wary of my actions towards you. Hopefully once whatever spell Miss Bennett has been asked to cast shows that we are acting of our own volition, that will be a step in the right direction to earning their trust." Elijah said, and Elena smiled.

"You have touched your food." She commented.

"And you've managed to finish all of yours." He observed. "Are you wanting some of mine?" He asked as Elena's eyes kept flicking from his face to his plate of food.

"If you aren't going to eat it..." Elena trailed off and Elijah gave her an amused smirk before sliding the plate towards her.

"Will you still be hungry come time for dinner later?" Elijah questioned, his smirk deepening.

"You'd be surprised." Elena said after swallowing a mouthful of fries. "Besides, we don't know what the spell will entail, or how long it will take." She added. "You can drink your milkshake, though. I won't be that greedy."

"It's quite alright, Elena. I don't mind."

"You're too good to me, Elijah, really."

"On the contrary, my dear, sweet Elena... it is you that is too good for me. You have every reason to hate me or distrust me after all the times I've betrayed you in the name of my family. And yet, you don't hate or distrust me, and you want to be in a relationship with me." Elijah mused.

"Everything else aside, you've never intentionally tried to harm me. I know that, no matter what, you would do everything in your power to keep me safe. I haven't had that with any of my previous relationships." Elena said, and the urge to straddle his lap and press her lips to his straight on washed over her, but she quickly pushed it down.

"Given the choice to protect you or my family, going forward, I plan on choosing both." Elijah said. "For no matter what the decision is, you are a part of my family, Elena." He added before leaning in for a kiss when Elena placed a hand on his chest to stop him. "What's wrong?"

"My breath probably smells horrible after eating all of this." She explained.

"Then shall I pay for lunch, so you can get home and brush your teeth?" Elijah asked.

Elena nodded and slid out of the booth after Elijah, taking his hand when he held it out to her. After paying for their food, and giving Matt a decent sized tip, Elijah led Elena back out to the car. The drive to Elena's house, while being reminiscent of the night before, did not mirror is at all. Elena sat close to Elijah, but she didn't touch him. And they didn't speak, as neither knew what to say on what they were walking into. When they got to Elena's house, there were more cars than to be expected parked out front. The two shared a glance, their confusion mirrored on the other's face before climbing out of the car and heading inside.

"What is going on?" Elena asked when they walked into the living room.


	5. Chapter 5

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 5

"Elena, we can explain..." Jeremy started to say.

"Save it Jer." Elena snapped, holding her hand up to stop him.

"Elena..." Alaric tried.

"Enough!" Elena shouted. "I get that you are all concerned about my safety, and I appreciate that, I do. But this needs to stop. Elijah is NOT Klaus. He won't hurt me, and the very fact that you are all trying to get me to think differently on that pisses me off. Every single one of you is supposed to be there to support me in my life decisions, and right now, the only person that I truly feel is on my side, is. Elijah. So I'm going to go upstairs, and pack an overnight bag, and then Elijah and I are leaving." She finished and turned to run upstairs before the tears at her friends' betrayal was seen.

"Why do I have a feeling that she's freaked out because I'm here?" Tyler asked from his spot next to the fireplace. "Because from my understanding, she was expecting the rest of you here." He added.

"Bonnie and I might have forgotten to let her know that you would be here..." Caroline said slowly.

"Why is he here?" Elijah questioned while leaning on the bottom of the banister while keeping an ear listening to Elena move about in her bedroom.

"Emotional support. The spell is complex." Bonnie explained.

"Alaric, Jeremy and Caroline weren't enough support?" Elijah asked with an unamused raised eyebrow.

"No, we needed one more person. I need to draw energy from a Vampire and a Werewolf. Tyler is the only werewolf that we trust. Alaric and Jeremy are needed for you and Elena." Bonnie explained.

"You do realize that by not explaining what the spell entails, that Elena is no longer wanting to go through with it, correct?" Elijah's eyes moved from each person in the room to the next, and each one of them had the good sense to look guilty.

"We weren't just thinking of her with this spell, you know." Jeremy said, breaking the silence that had befallen the group. "We were thinking about you too. We wanted to give both of you the peace of mind that what is starting to grow between the two of you was real." He explained.

"I appreciate the consideration, Jeremy." Elijah said with a nod of his head as Elena came back downstairs, her eyes landing on her brother and step-father.

"I'll see you both in 2 days for dinner." She said while taking Elijah's hand.

"Elena, wait!" Bonnie called out.

"What?" Elena asked, turning to face her friend.

"The spell is a complex one. The energy of a vampire and a werewolf is needed to mix with the energy of the witch performing the spell. That's why Tyler is here. Alaric and Jeremy are needed for you and Elijah." Bonnie said.

"That's not a difficult description to give, Bonnie. You could have told me that at the Mystic Grill." Elena said, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "Let's go Elijah." She said.

Once they were outside, Elijah pulled Elena into a tight hug. The tears that she had so desperately been trying to keep in started falling and left wet spots on Elijah's suit jacket. When she started shaking as her tears turned into sobs, Elijah lifted her into his arms, bridal style and carried her to the car. He had been planning on taking her to the city and letting her pick out a dress for their date that night, but that plan was out the window. So instead he drove her to his apartment and carried her into his apartment. He had made sure it wasn't a high-end apartment, so that it wouldn't attract the attention of Niklaus, so he knew that Elena would be safe from his brother there.

"I'm sorry if I ruined your jacket." Elena mumbled when Elijah placed her on his couch.

"It's okay, sweet Elena. Why don't you get comfortable, and I'll go change?" Elijah said while running his hands through her hair.

"Can I come with you? Then I can put my bag into your room." Elena questioned.

"Of course." Elijah said holding his hands out to her and lifting her up from the couch.

"This isn't what I was expecting your place to look like." Elena commented. "It's nice, don't get me wrong, but I was thinking you lived in a penthouse or something."

"I went low profile as to not garner Niklaus' attention. And I wanted to stay close to the heart of the town." Elijah explained.

"And to make it easier to keep an eye on me." Elena added.

"That too. Now it serves a place to take you away from your friends and family when they upset you like they did today." He said as he led her upstairs.

"I didn't even know that Mystic Falls had townhouse apartments. But I like it." She said before her mouth fell open when they reached the second floor. "Your bedroom takes up the entire second floor?" She asked slowly.

"Well, technically, part of it is a walk-in closest and the other is an en suite bathroom. But yes." Elijah said pulling her towards the middle of the room. "Will it do, Miss Gilbert?" He asked.

"Definitely." Elena said as she continued to take in the room.

When she walked over to the closet, she had a brief flash of what the closet would look like with half of it being filled with her clothes, and really just what their lives could look like together, but she quickly shook the thought away. They weren't even officially a couple yet, so it was too soon to be thinking of them living together. Just like it was too soon to be talking about a family of their own.

"Feel free to look around, take a bath to relax if you need to, I need to make a couple of calls really quick, but then I'm all yours." Elijah said, walking up behind Elena and wrapping his arms around her waist and placing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Elijah, where were you thinking of taking me for dinner tonight? Because if it's any place super fancy, I don't have a dress." Elena said with a slight frown.

"Don't worry about that, Elena. What you're wearing is fine for dinner."

"Didn't you say that you were going to change?" Elena asked, eyeing the slight wrinkles that had formed in his suit.

"That I did."

Elena moved from the closet to the bathroom, catching Elijah's reflection in the mirror as he removed his suit jacket and button down. Seeing the hard planes of his back, Elena's breath caught in her throat and she couldn't bring herself to look away from his reflections. The next thing that Elena knew, Elijah was meeting her eyes in the mirror and was standing behind her.

"If you wanted to see me without a shirt, all you had to do was ask once we got up here." He whispered into her ear.

"I hadn't intended on staring." Elena replied slowly, as she turned to face him, her hands coming to rest on his chest and looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"Too tempting for your own good." Elijah said again before pulling her in for a deep and passionate kiss, lifting her up and carrying her to his bed before laying her down gently.

"Are we rearranging the order of our plans for tonight?" Elena breathed out as Elijah's lips kissed a trail along her jaw and down her neck.

"I have every intention of having a repeat performance tonight after dinner. I can not resist you any longer, Elena. I hope you don't mind." He said pulling back enough to look into her eyes.

"Unless you turn out to be a horrible lover, which I highly doubt, I see very little reason to mind a repeat performance." Elena said with a smile.

"I will let you be the judge of that." Elijah nipped at her bottom lip.

"You've done pretty well so far."

Before Elijah could respond, there was a loud knock on his front door. With a groan, Elijah lowered his head to Elena's shoulder where he pressed a kiss. Reluctantly, Elena lightly pushed him to go answer the door while she got into a more comfortable position on the bed. With one more kiss to her lips, Elijah went to the closet to pull on a shirt and headed downstairs, all while the knocking continued. Elijah could hear the slowed heartbeat of a vampire on the other side of the door, and he growled under his breath. He really didn't want to deal with another vampire interrupting his time with Elena.

"May I help you, Mr. Salvatore?" Elijah asked when he opened the door to find Damon standing on the other side.

"Where's Elena?" Damon responded.

"What makes you think I would know?"

"Because you keep an annoyingly close eye on her. I sent her a text this morning, she never responded, and her phone keeps going straight to voicemail when I try to call her."

"The last I saw her was when I brought her home last night."

"I know you're lying. I just came from her house, and Ric informed me that she's been with you all day."

"Did it cross your mind that maybe she doesn't want to see or talk to you?"

"If that was the case, then I would say that you compelled her."

"You severely underestimate the connection Elena and I share. I have no need to compel her to spend time with me, or for her to allow me to spend time with her. Every decision she's made, in regard to me, at least, being in her life is entirely her own." Elijah said. "I have never forced her to do things that she was not wanting to do herself. And now I must ask you to leave."

"I'm not leaving without her."

"You don't learn, do you? I'm stronger and faster than you. You are not welcome here, and if you insist on entering into a fight with me over Elena, then I assure you, you will lose."

"Get her down here then. Let her make the decision." Damon challenged.

"I know her decision. She's chosen me." Elijah replied. "Good bye, Mr. Salvatore." He said before slamming the door in the younger vampire's face.

Using his vampire speed to get back upstairs, Elijah started to panic slightly when he didn't see Elena laying on the bed where he had left her moments earlier. Glancing around, he relaxed and walked over to the bathroom, removing his clothes as he did so when he saw Elena in the soaker tub.

"Mind if I join you, my dear?" Elijah asked.

"Not at all. I could use a hand at releasing the tension from my shoulders." Elena replied with a smile. "Who was at the door?" She asked as she scooted away from the end of the tub so that Elijah could slide in behind her before settling back against his chest.

"Damon Salvatore. He wasn't pleased that you have been spending your day with me. He thinks I compelled you to ignore him." Elijah replied resting his hands on Elena's shoulders and slowly massaging out the knotted muscles.

"I wouldn't have complained if you had." Elena muttered.

"You do not care for him?"

"Honestly, the only reason that I had him on the list of people that I wanted you to protect was because of Stefan. They are all the family each other has, and I didn't want to put Stefan through losing Damon. And then after Stefan left with Klaus, things got really confusing, but I never really wanted to be with _him_. It was more a fool's goal to try and turn him into his brother." Elena explained and letting out a sigh as she felt the tension start to melt away. "This isn't moving to fast, is it?" She asked in a small voice.

"It might be but having you in my arms throughout the day has quickly become my favorite thing. We don't have to do anything you aren't ready for. So if you are second guessing your resolve to sleep together this evening, I will respect that."

"I feel like if we don't do that tonight, that I will have just worked you up to it, just to let you down. I don't want to do that to you."

"You won't be letting me down, Elena. I never want you to feel like you have to do something, just because you think it's what I want. If you aren't ready, then we won't do it."

"You really are a very honorable man, Elijah. Thank you for that." Elena said as she turned her head slightly and captured his lips with hers.

The kiss wasn't as deep or passionate as some of the others that they had shared throughout the day, but short and sweet. When Elena pulled away and settled back against his chest again, Elijah moved his arms to around her waist, simply holding her to him. They sat like that without speaking until the warm water turned cold, but by the time that that happened, Elena had fallen into a light sleep, and Elijah pressed kisses to her shoulder to wake her up.

"I fell asleep again, didn't I?" Elena asked as a blush rose on her cheeks.

"You did, but I don't mind. And you have nothing to be embarrassed about." Elijah replied as he held Elena away from him while he stepped out of the tub to wrap a towel around his waist before helping Elena out as well.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Not long. It was relaxing to be sitting in the tub with you in my arms. If it wasn't for the fact that water had gotten cold, I wouldn't have woken you up."

"But then we would have missed dinner."

"After the events of the day, I've altered the plan for dinner. I shall be cooking for you."

"Elijah, you don't have to stare so intently at my face."

"If I don't, my eyes will wander, and I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable." Elijah said as he reached behind him and grabbed another towel before handing it to Elena.

"I don't mind being naked around you, Elijah. It's weird at home because of Jeremy and Alaric, but I don't feel that same weirdness with you." Elena said softly, despite taking the towel in her hands and quickly wrapping it around herself.

"I'm happy to hear that, Elena. Because there is something that I would like to discuss with you." Elijah said slowly. "Something that I think would be beneficial to both of us as this continues." He added while running his hands up and down her arms to warm her up.

"Is everything okay?" Elena asked, her brow knitting together in concern.

"With Mr. Salvatore's appearance earlier, were I not to have been the one to answer the door, he would have been able to come in. As a vampire, and the, currently, sole resident, other vampires do not need to be invited in. If you would be comfortable with it, I would like to put your name on the lease as well, so that you can control which vampires can come in." Elijah explained, his eyes taking in every reaction that crossed Elena's features.

Not knowing what to say, or how to feel about what Elijah was asking, Elena stared back him blankly before walking out of the bathroom and over to the bed and sitting on the edge. They weren't even officially dating, hadn't even had their first date yet, unless today counted as one big date, and he was essentially asking her to move in with him. If she accepted, then she could limit the number of vampires that were allowed to enter to be 2, Elijah himself, and Caroline. And she was conflicted on how she was feeling about the prospect of living with Elijah, compared to how she knew she should be feeling. Only when Elijah's voice cut through the haze and he came into focus kneeling in front of her did Elena realize that she had still been staring off without seeing anything.

"You're asking me to move in with you." Elena said slowly.

"Not entirely. You don't have to move out of your family's home. I know that it's too early to be asking that level of commitment from you. If you wanted to stay here most nights, that would be your prerogative, and I wouldn't complain about having your company at night, but you wouldn't have to. But having your name on the lease would give me a peace of mind knowing that if you were here, and I had to deal with anything that required me to leave the apartment, that no other vampire would be able to take you." Elijah explained.

"Is this just to prevent Damon from getting to me, or Klaus as well?" Elena asked.

"I definitely don't want Mr. Salvatore to be to get to you if I'm not around. As far as Niklaus goes, with him being out of town, he is not as much of a worry at the moment. The second my brother steps foot back in Mystical Falls, I will not leave your side. I apologize if that is too overprotective of me. I just cannot stand even the thought of you getting hurt knowing that there might have been something that I could do."

"Okay."

"You really don't have to if... okay? You're okay with putting your name on the lease?"

"Yes. My house has had too many vampires invited in. Being able to limit the number of vampires that can come in here to 2, you and Caroline, would make me feel safer too."

"Then first thing tomorrow, we will take care of that. As for tonight, we can stay here, if you would like. After I cook you dinner, that is."

"I'd like that."

After that, Elijah got dressed before heading downstairs to start making dinner while Elena sat on the bed, thinking. While she always believed that she had loved Stefan, she was realizing that there had always been something missing. And then with the mixed feelings about what was happening between her and Damon during the first half of the summer, nothing had felt right. But even through all of that, during the times that she had spent with Elijah, even before the past almost 20 or so hours, something that she hadn't been able to place at the time had always felt right. There was something about being around him that had always made her feel safe. Looking back on it now, Elena realized that at the beginning, it was intrigue and affection, although both were at very low levels to start off. Over the course of their acquaintanceship, those had feelings had grown to caring and genuinely liking him. And while she didn't love him, at least not yet, she knew that there was a potential of getting there the more that they spent time together.

' _I loved Stefan quickly, and easily. But something was missing. I am in very strong like with Elijah, and it feels right. No matter what anyone else says or thinks, I'm going to give this my all.'_ Elena thought to herself as she moved about the bedroom and bathroom, pulling her clothes, sans her jacket, back on and drying her hair. While Elijah had said that they would be staying in for dinner, and that they could stay there after they ate, she still wanted to look nice for him, so after drying her hair, Elena applied a little bit of eyeliner, mascara and lip gloss. With a small smile at her reflection, Elena tiptoed downstairs and towards the direction of the kitchen, coming to lean against the wall by the fridge and just taking Elijah's appearance in. He was standing at the stove, his button down shirt untucked, and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, while his slacks sat loosely on his hips without a belt, and barefoot.

"I could get used to this sight." Elena commented with a smile.

"Me cooking for you?" Elijah asked with a glance over at her.

"You looking genuinely relaxed, despite still wearing a button down and slacks." Elena replied pushing away from the wall, walking over to where he was standing and wrapping her arms around his waist before pressing a kiss to his back, between his shoulder blades. "What are you making?"

"Lasagna. You like Italian, right?"

"I do." Elena replied before standing on her toes. "I prefer Vikings more though." She whispered and in a blink of an eye, Elijah was facing her and pressing his lips to hers hungrily.

"You might end up being the death of me, Miss Gilbert." Elijah whispered against her lips.

"I hope you mean metaphorically, because I really can't take anyone else I care about dying."

"I'm not that easy to kill, physically, my dear. You don't have to worry about that."

"Do I need to worry about you burning the apartment down?" She asked with a nod over his shoulder to the stove.

"Definitely the death of me, you tempting little distraction." He said with a quick kiss before turning back to the food.

"I could just go back upstairs... leave you alone to the cooking."

"No you will not. You are staying right where you are. Because once this goes into the oven, I want you in my arms once again."

"I think I'll be okay with that."


	6. Chapter 6

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 6

 **A/N:** I would like to thank everyone who has favorited and followed the story thus far. They mean just to me as reviews do, and it shows me that you all like where I'm taking the story.

Once the food was in the oven to bake, Elijah picked Elena up bridal style and carried her into the living room before settling onto the couch with her in his lap. While he had suggested they watch a movie, Elena declined the suggestion, saying that she was content to just be in his arms. As they sat there, simply enjoying each other's company, Elena drew random shapes on Elijah's arms while Elijah ran his fingers through Elena's hair, occasionally placing light kisses to the top of her head.

"I never expected this to happen." Elena said a little while later, breaking the silence.

"Never expected what to happen?" Elijah asked.

"You... me... us, together. After finding out how into Katherine Stefan had been, and that I shared her face, I never felt 100% secure in the relationship, no matter what he said or did. Especially with how easily she was able to fool both him and Damon into thinking she was me. He couldn't tell the difference between us. With you, I have that security, even after just one day, when really I should feel even less secure with you because you also knew Tatia." Elena explained. "When we first met, when Rose and Trevor had kidnapped me to trade me for their freedom from Klaus, I completely thought you were going to kiss me. While I was scared, I think a part of me would have let you kiss me, if you had tried to. Even then, something felt right being around you, despite the fear and uncertainty that was your connection to Klaus."

"After falling for two other women, no matter how briefly it had been, that have the same face as you, I tried to tell myself that if I ever found another Petrova doppelgänger, that I wouldn't let myself be pulled in. But then I met you, and quickly realized that you were nothing like Tatia or Katerina, and I couldn't help myself. So I kept my distance as much as I possibly could, tried to respect your relationship with the younger Salvatore, keep my word to you that I would keep your friends and family safe from my brother. I was pleasantly surprised to find out last night that you might have felt the same way as I do." Elijah said.

Elena sat up quickly and turned to face Elijah straight on, being met with a confused and expectant look. Tilting her head, Elena moved to straddle Elijah's lap and brought his hands to rest on her hips before wrapping her arms around his neck. Leaning down she gently brushed her lips against his in a single kiss and when he went to kiss her again, moved her lips along his jawline and down to his neck.

"While I do not mind what you are doing, my dear, sweet Elena, but what prompted this?" Elijah asked, his eyes blazing as Elena moved to kiss up the other side of his neck and along the other side of his jawline.

"I remembered some of what I said when I called you last night to come pick me up." Elena said, her lips now hovering over his again.

"And which part did you remember?"

"Lots of hugs and kisses."

"I think you've more than delivered on that."

"I haven't given you nearly enough hugs yet. And you could always use some more kisses."

Elijah groaned at the innocent tone that Elena's voice had taken on. Her actions were in no way innocent, but he couldn't bring himself to mind. He knew that she wasn't playing him, he knew that she wasn't doing what both Katerina and Tatia had done, and his feelings for her only grew more because of that. Elena wasn't her ancestors. She wasn't stringing him along while toying with the emotions of his brother as well. Elena knew that she wanted him, and Elijah respected her for being honest with him. The only thing he was disappointed over was that now that Elena wasn't drunk, she wasn't sure if she was ready to take the next step that she had been adamant that she wanted to take the night before. But he was going to respect her decision, or her lack of a decision in this particular case and wouldn't push her for it.

"Elena..." Elijah said warningly.

"Do you want me to stop?" Elena asked.

"No, I don't _want_ you to stop, but I don't want us to continue down this path unless you are 100% sure that you are ready. We can go slow in the physical aspect of our relationship, get to know each other's bodies a little at a time." Elijah said as a hand came up to her neck and his thumb ran over her cheek.

"You're having second thoughts?"

"You had second thoughts, Elena. I'm only trying to respect that."

"I can't think straight around you, apparently."

"All the more reason for us to take it slowly. I don't want you to regret anything that happens between us." Elijah said as he pulled her down to rest her head on his shoulder and cradled her in his arms on his lap.

"Why do you think my thoughts are so mixed up?" Elena asked softly.

"I would assume it would be because, up until yesterday, you were still holding out hope for Stefan to return to you, while being genuinely confused about what your relationship with Damon was, and then on top of that, your first thought last night was to call me. You've been through so much in the past few years in quick succession that your mind and heart can't process everything fully before the next thing is happening. It probably also doesn't help that the Salvatore's were not always respectful of the fact that you are still human." Elijah replied before kissing her forehead. "I will try to be more mindful of that fact."

Elena pulled her head away from Elijah's shoulder to look into his eyes, her movement of pulling away bringing his gaze down to meet hers. There were so many things that she wanted to say to him, to tell him, but nothing seemed appropriate for the way the conversation had headed. A mere thanking him wasn't enough, but she couldn't recall everything that she wanted to thank him for. There was a small part of her, deep down, and almost miniscule, that wanted to ask him to turn her into a vampire, right then and there, but that would put her at risk, and completely defeat the purpose of him wanting to put her name on the lease for his apartment to protect her.

Then there was the matter of what her feelings for him were. The myriad of emotions that were fighting for dominance in her head and heart, and she couldn't separate them in a way that would make it easy for her to relay them to Elijah. The only feeling that she could pinpoint in the jumble of everything else was the feeling of being safe. Safe in his arms, safe by his side, safe with him in her life. Safe, safe, safe. Safe and secure. As if by it's own actions, Elena's hand unbuttoned the top few buttons on Elijah's shirt and moved across his chest to settle over his heart. She wanted to give her heart to him. She wanted him to give his heart to her. She wanted them to be there for each other for the rest of their lives. And yet, she couldn't voice any of it without the fear of it coming out in a jumbled mess.

"What's on your mind, sweet Elena?" Elijah asked while resting his forehead against hers and covering the hand that was resting on his heart with his own.

"Too much to voice them." Elena replied. "All good things, though."

As Elijah went to respond, the time on the oven dinged, and he had to reluctantly detangle himself from Elena. Once she had been lightly placed on the couch, so Elijah could get the food out of the oven, Elena placed her hand over her own heart, only to feel it beating a bit faster than normal and she took some deep breaths to calm herself down. Images flashed in her mind of other activities that they could have been doing, other than just sitting on the couch with him holding her, that could get her heart racing. She let out a groan and lightly hit her head against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling. The fact that she hadn't gotten any since before the ritual and Stefan leaving with Klaus probably wasn't helping matters any, either.

"Everything alright, my dear?" Elijah asked from the kitchen. _'Of course he would hear my groan.'_ Elena thought.

"I think I figured out the underlining problem to my jumbled thoughts on taking that step to having a physical relationship." Elena said as she turned her head to look at him.

"And what would that be?" He asked, his eyebrow raised and a playful smirk gracing his lips.

"I haven't gotten any since before the ritual." She replied simply, giving him a knowing look.

"And you're thinking that if we do take that step, that it'll help clear your mind?" Elijah asked.

"I don't know, maybe it will, maybe it won't." Elena said with a sigh.

"So are you wanting to take that next step to see if it helps?"

"I'm not sure yet. Probably not tonight. If nothing else, maybe a full night's sleep, and a night where I'm not drunk going to sleep, will help clear up what I'm thinking."

"I can work with that. I will be content with having you in my arms, either way."

The wink that Elijah gave Elena while saying that made Elena blush and hide her face in the back cushions of the couch. Her reaction made Elijah smirk, and, after putting the food on plates and setting them on trays by the couch, he tried to coax her into looking at him. When Elena playfully refused, Elijah's cocked an eyebrow up slightly at an idea that was forming in his head. Scooting closer to her, Elijah ghosted his fingers along her legs before getting to her sides and started tickling her mercilessly. The peal of laughter that burst from Elena made Elijah smile, but he continued his playful assault on her sides until she was looking at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears from how much she was laughing.

"Much better." Elijah said as he withdrew his hands and allowed Elena to regain her breath. "Now, as I understand it, dates nowadays usually entail dinner and a movie. I have a small collection by the TV if you would like to choose one, and then we can proverbially kill two birds with one stone by watching a movie while we eat." He added.

"What if I don't want to watch a movie?" Elena asked, a daring look in her eyes.

"And what, pray tell, would you suggest we do instead?"

"Eat dinner, make idle conversation if necessary, and then turn in early. It's been a long day."

"My dear, sweet Elena are you trying to limit that amount of time that I get to have you in my arms?"

"Of course not. You a full night of having me in your arms. I'm just hungry and tired. And I'm just now realizing how tired and hungry I am."

"I'm surprised that you're hungry. You ate both of our orders of food at lunch this afternoon."

Elena narrowed her eyes at Elijah when he smirked at her before throwing a pillow at him, only for him to catch it easily and drop it on the floor. The next thing that Elena knew was that she was flat on her back and Elijah was hovering over her.

"Miss Gilbert, I do not condone pillow throwing during dinner." Elijah said with a playful smile.

"How was I supposed to know that? It's not like you have a list of rules of when and when not to do things." Elena replied with a pout, which Elijah immediately bent down to kiss away.

"That is why I am letting you know now. For future reference. Meals are the only times when I do not allow things to be thrown." He said. "But we should eat before the food gets cold." He added while sitting back and pulling Elena up with him.

As it turned out, the pair ate in silence, but that did not stop Elijah's free hand from doing some light roaming of Elena's body, mainly her side and back. In retaliation to Elijah's roaming hand, Elena made it a point to lick her lips after every single bite she took, giving Elijah a pointed look as she did so. And so it escalated, quickly. Elijah's hand would wander to other parts of Elena's body, and Elena started adding in sounds of approval as she ate. It was a surprise to both of them that they managed to finish eating and get their dishes to the kitchen sink before their lips met again and Elijah was picking Elena up by her thighs, urging her to wrap her legs around his waist and taking her upstairs.

"You, Elena Gilbert, are a tease." Elijah said as he placed Elena on the bed.

"Me? You were the one who's hand was roaming over my body. I was trying to eat the delicious lasagna that you made for dinner." Elena replied innocently.

"The seductive way you licked your lips, and the sounds you were making would say otherwise." Elijah commented.

"Making sure I got every bit of the food so as not to waste any of it, and the flavors exploding in my mouth."

"We will have to agree to disagree, because I am not moving from my stance of you doing all of that to tease me." Elijah said, pulling back and gripping the hem of Elena's dress.

"Yes, agree to disagree." Elena said, her breath starting to come out in shallow pants as her heart sped up its beating.

"I thought you said you were tired?"

"I'm a teenage girl with an extremely sexy guy above me, who was teasing me while we ate dinner... tired can turn into turned on very quickly."

"I can see that, my dear."

"Are you going to do anything about it?"

"It's tempting, sweet Elena, but you need sleep."

Elena pouted at that. The more that she did that, the more Elijah found it difficult to deny her. But he knew he had to. He had to give her what was best for her, and right now, that was sleep. Letting his hands fall to her hips, Elijah gently urged Elena to move further towards the head of the bed, and over to the side farthest from the door before laying down next to her. When she turned on her side to look at him, Elijah started to rub circles on her side with his thumb, causing Elena to sigh in contentment and close her eyes for a moment as her body relaxed.

"I know we've both been sending mixed signals to each other since last night, and I want you to know that I am, in no way, saying that it'll never happen, it's just not happening tonight. As you said, it has been a long and stressful day, and you need sleep, Elena. I will be at your side all night. But you need to get some sleep." Elijah said, lightly pulling her into him and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Okay." Elena replied, a small yawn escaping her lips, causing her to frown.

"Where is your bag? I'll grab your pajamas for you." Elijah questioned.

"Bathroom." Her response had Elijah getting off of the bed, and Elena turned over onto her back to watch him. "You know, if you have an old t-shirt that you don't want people to know you have, I could always wear that to bed instead." She suggested.

"Unfortunately, in relation to that suggestion, I do not own any t-shirts, Elena. But any morning you want to come downstairs wearing one of my button-down shirts, I would not oppose to that." Elijah said as he walked back to the bed and handed her the tank top and shorts.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, her eyes sparkling before he turned away. "You don't have to leave while I change." She added in a small voice, knowing that he would still be able to hear her.

"I wasn't leaving, Elena. Just giving you the decency of not staring as you change." He replied, half glancing over his shoulder.

"Elijah Mikaelson... are you afraid to see me naked?"

"Not at all. I'm being respectful."

"We sat in the bathtub together, naked, just a few hours ago. What makes that any different than when we got out and now?"

"The soapy water provided you with covering your body."

"You had your hands on my body."

"And I purposefully kept them in place on your sides once I wrapped my arms around your waist. Please Elena, give me this. I was raised to be a gentleman, and gentlemen should not stare at beautiful woman when they are getting out of the bath or are changing."

"Fine. You win. I'm ready for bed."

Elijah turned back around at that and closed the small distance between them. Placing one hand on her hip, his thumb slipping under the hem of her top to rub circles on the bare skin there, and the other hand at the base of her head, Elijah bent down and gave her a kiss good night. A kiss that blew all of their other kisses from the day out of the water, and far surpassed all of the good night kisses that Stefan had ever given her. It was a kiss that made Elena melt into Elijah's touch and press her body flush against his.

"Climb into bed, and I'll be back momentarily." Elijah instructed.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked, fear flashing in her eyes.

"To change into something more suitable for sleeping in, Elena. I'll be on the other side of the room." Elijah replied, kissing away the fear.

"Do I have to turn away when you change?" She asked.

"Only if you want to."

"And if I don't want to?"

"Then I will enjoy the knowledge of you watching me."

"We have no self-control around each other, do we?"

"It would appear not. Or at the very least, any self-control that we had is quickly slipping away."

Before anything else could happen, Elena pulled away from Elijah so that he could go change while she climbed under the covers and scooted towards the middle of the bed. While she had every intention of watching him change, as she placed her head on the pillow, Elena slowly started to fall asleep. By the time that Elijah had changed, made sure the front door was locked downstairs, turned off the lights throughout the apartment, and was climbing into bed himself, Elena had turned over and was mostly asleep, only stirring slightly to scoot back further into Elijah's embrace when he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her shoulder.

"Good night, sweet Elena." Elijah's whispered words were the last thing that Elena heard before sleep overtook her.


	7. Chapter 7

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 7

 _The car was swerving, water was everywhere. I couldn't breathe. I was dying. And then I wasn't. The water that had been filling my lungs was being pressed out by someone doing chest compressions. I was coughing up water, sputtering as I tried to take in air again. Then a sharp pain shot through my neck as a body covered mine. Looking up at my attacker, he slowly came into focus and I screamed._

"Elena! Wake up! Please!" Elijah exclaimed as he shook the sleeping girl as urgently and as carefully as he could.

Elena bolted up in bed, air burning her throat and chest as she gulped it in, hyperventilating just around the corner. Gripping her head in her hands, tears fell from her eyes and her whole body shook with fear. She felt the bed dip as Elijah moved closer to her, and she faintly recognized his touch as he pulled her onto his lap, his hands rubbing her arm and back in attempts to calm her down.

"It was horrible, 'Lijah." Elena said in a small, shaky voice.

"What happened?" He asked.

"It was the night my parents died. The actual night that it happened, Stefan saved me, but by the time that he got back to the car, my parents were dead. The nightmare... it was Klaus, and he bit me after giving me CPR." She explained, tears still running down her cheeks, despite the shaking subsiding as Elijah comforted her.

"My brother cannot hurt you, Elena. You have my word on that." Elijah said.

"I haven't had nightmares about my parents in over a year." Elena said softly.

"I wish there was more that I could do to help you. I hate seeing you like this."

"Kiss me..." Elena said slowly.

"That's not a good idea Elena..." Elijah warned.

"I'm not asking for sex right now, Elijah, I just need you to kiss me, please." Elena begged.

Elijah gave in, lifting her chin up with his thumb and pointer finger, and giving her a light kiss. Her lips tasted slightly of salt from her tears, but her body had stopped shaking soon after his lips were on hers, and her tears slowed to a stop. As the kiss continued, Elena wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck and he lowered her body to the bed before covering her body with his. That was when a bout of claustrophobia set in and Elena pushed Elijah off her to have enough space to flip them over. Once she was straddling his lap, Elena pulled out of the kiss and stared down at the man beneath her as his hands lightly rested on her hips and rubbed soothing circles on her sides with his thumbs.

"Tell me what more I can do to help you, Elena. I don't want you to suffer from nightmares." Elijah said soothingly as Elena moved to lay down, using his chest as a pillow.

"I don't know if there is anything. The extreme measure would be to compel me to forget the night my parents died, or at least the events surrounding their death, but that could cause more damage than the nightmares would." Elena said, her left arm falling around Elijah's middle.

"You could try sleeping like this, see if this position helps." Elijah suggested.

"Are you sure you will be comfortable with me sleeping on top of you?" Elena asked, raising her head slightly to look up at him.

"I'm a vampire, Elena, I can stand, sit or lay in one position for quite a while without it getting uncomfortable. But even if it does get uncomfortable, you are more important than anything else. So close your eyes, Elena, and try to get back to sleep." He prompted.

With a nod, Elena returned her head to Elijah's chest and tentatively closed her eyes. She felt him tighten his hold around her waist, and she relaxed against him, willing her body to let her sleep. The next thing Elena knew, her body was being gently moved from on top of Elijah's and lips were being pressed to her forehead. She tried moving closer to him, but instead he pulled away and she heard him chuckle softly. Even in her still-half-asleep state of unconsciousness, she stuck her tongue out in Elijah's direction, only to hear him chuckle again.

"I was comfortable." Elena grumbled.

"And it's morning. At least we know that using me as a full body pillow helps you sleep." Elijah replied with a smirk.

"Is that a complaint, Mikaelson? Because it sounds very much like a complaint, and I would like to point out that it was your suggestion that I try sleeping on top of you." Elena asked, her tone, though still sounding tired, laced with amusement.

"Not a complaint, my love. An observation." Elijah said, walking towards the closet before stopping in his tracks as his words hit him full force at the same time they seemed to hit Elena and she sat up in bed.

"'M-m-my love'?"

"Elena... I... it's not what it sounds like. My family... we use it as a term of endearment for a lot of people." Elijah tried to explain as he turned to face him.

"So... you don't think your feelings, which have been building, I guess since we met, could have grown enough to love me?" Elena asked, and Elijah noticed a sad look in her eyes, and the tone of disappointment in her voice.

"I don't know, Elena." Elijah said.

"And 'love' isn't the word that you have been so badly wanting to say whenever you call me 'dear, sweet Elena'?"

"It is, but not the only word. And I had every intention of waiting on saying that to you until we were more than 2 days into a, as of yet, undetermined relationship." Elijah said, and he was back by her side in a blink of an eye. "Are you disappointed that I didn't mean to say it?" He asked.

"A little." Elena replied in a small voice.

"Elena..." Elijah said slowly.

"It's fine, Elijah, really. It was just a momentary insecure thought of you not meaning it, instead of you not meaning to say it yet."

"I am sorry to make you think that, Elena. I never want to make you feel insecure about us."

"I know that, Elijah. I'm not fully awake yet, so it took me by surprise, and my mind momentarily went back to the insecurities I had before yesterday. I'm still adjusting to all of this." Elena explained while moving off the bed and making her way to the bathroom.

"And you would tell me if you didn't feel secure or comfortable about something, right?" Elijah asked.

"Of course." Elena replied with a nod over her shoulder. "I'm going to take a shower; would you like to join me?" She asked.

"It's an appealing offer, but I'm afraid I can't. The only reason I woke up and was having to leave you asleep in my bed was because I just received a call from my sister." Elijah said.

"Your... sister." Elena said slowly. "How many siblings do you have again?" She asked.

"Living, in a sense, 4." Elijah replied. "In total, 6. Although my older sister, Freya, and my youngest brother Henrik are the ones that we lost before we were turned into Vampires. I wasn't born yet when we lost Freya." He elaborated.

"So the sister that called would be...?"

"Rebekah. The youngest Mikaelson."

"And how will she feel about you pursuing a relationship with a human?"

"What any of my siblings think is not important. They will just have to accept that you are who I want, and I will get them to agree to not hurt you."

"Okay, and what correlation does your sister calling and you having to get out of bed have to do with each other?"

"She has asked to meet. I presume, to discuss our brother's actions about continually daggering us and putting us in coffins throughout the millennium that we've been Vampires."

"Would you like company?"

"You already have plans for today."

"Those plans are for tonight. I can come with you and still meet up with Caroline and Bonnie later on."

"She's in Chicago. Even with a private jet, there is no way that I can get you there and back before you need to meet up with your friends. And if Rebekah is in Chicago, then that means that Niklaus and, most likely, Stefan, are also there. Do you really want to see your ex-boyfriend when our relationship is still so new?"

"You're probably right."

"I usually am, my dear."

"And cocky to boot. Okay, so I won't go with you to see your sister. But what am I supposed to do all day before meeting with Bonnie and Caroline?"

"Call them and invite them over. Why limit your time with them to just tonight? Have a girl's day."

"We still need to put my name on the lease before you leave."

"Of course, I temporarily forgot that we were doing that this morning."

Elena gave Elijah a questioning look, as if to say, 'yeah right', and Elijah chuckled. He liked that Elena wasn't afraid to call him out on things. With a smirk, he moved slowly from the bed towards Elena, but by the time that she realized what was about to happen, it was too late, and Elijah was picking her up, throwing her over his shoulder, and tickling her with one hand while the other kept her from falling.

"ELIJAH MIKAELSON, YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" Elena cried out.

"You know, I don't usually respond well to commands, but it's you, I will make an exception. As long as you promise not to make a habit of doing so." Elijah replied as Elena started punching his back as best as she could.

"Fine, I promise- _ah_ \- I promise." Elena said through a fit of giggles.

"Now..." Elijah said as he tossed her onto the bed, "while you take your shower, and get ready for a day with your friends, I am going to get ahold of the landlord to stop by so that we can get your name on the lease. I don't like the fact that I'm leaving you here with one of the Salvatore's wandering around, but as long as you remain in the apartment, and I don't leave until after the lease is in your name, then I shall have some peace of mind."

"If that's your plan, it's being poorly executed, Mr. Mikaelson." Elena commented.

"That, Miss Gilbert, is because you distract me." Elijah replied as he pulled away from her.

Over the next hour or so, the pair got ready for the day around each, easily and quickly finding a routine that worked for them. Whenever either of them would walk by the other for whatever reason, they would steal a small kiss before moving on with whatever they were doing. Once they were both ready, and just waiting for the landlord to arrive, Elijah lifted Elena onto the counter in the bathroom and stepped between her legs.

"Having you so close all day yesterday is going to make today difficult to be so far away from you." Elijah said as he moved his mouth over her pulse point.

"I did offer to go with you, but you made very reasonable arguments as to why that's not a good idea. If there was any other way for us to stay together today, I would happily do so." Elena replied as she wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck.

"Sadly, there is not. So we must endure the separation, and I will be back at your side by tomorrow morning." Elijah said, his teeth grazing her neck.

"Elijah..." Elena's breath came out shaky with anticipation of Elijah potentially biting her, but the moment was interrupted by a knock on the door that had Elijah pulling away and straightening his suit jacket before heading downstairs.

Elena breathed deeply as she calmed her heart down. Elijah had been correct, today was going to be difficult to be so far away from each other, but she was determined to get through it. She was sure that they would get through it. And he had said that he would be back by the morning, so it shouldn't be too bad... unless her time with Bonnie and Caroline goes bad. And after the stunt that they pulled the day before, she wasn't sure that it wouldn't go bad. Sliding off of counter, Elena took one more deep breath before heading downstairs herself.

"Ah, Elena, there you are. We are ready for your signature, my dear." Elijah said, his face lighting up when she joined him and the landlord in the living room.

Elena offered him a smiled while taking the pen he held out to her. Wanting to be as close to him as she could be before he left for Chicago, Elena sat down on Elijah's lap and smiled to herself when his arm instantly wrapped around her waist.

"May I ask as to the reasoning behind the change, Mr. Mikaelson?" The landlord asked, eyeing Elena.

"Protection for Miss Gilbert." Elijah replied, his eyes never straying from Elena's face.

"Would it not, then, be unwise to have a paper trail that has her name on it?" The landlord questioned.

"You do not need to know anymore information than what I have just given you." Elijah snapped, his gaze hard as he looked upon the other man.

"My apologies. Once Miss Gilbert signs, all will be well."

"I'll walk him out once you're done signing and then you'll have to invite me back in. We don't want a repeat of what happened at the Salvatore Boarding House." Elijah whispered into Elena's ear and she nodded once before signing.

"There you go." She said handing the paper work back to the landlord.

"I'll walk you out. And thank you for coming on such short notice." Elijah said, already feeling the pain of that accompanied being in a place where he was not invited.

"Of course. You are my best tenant. You have a good day now, Miss Gilbert, Mr. Mikaelson." The landlord said as he took his leave, Elijah right behind him.

"Elena..." Elijah groaned as he stumbled through the doorway.

"Please come in, Elijah." She said immediately, and Elijah's lips were on hers.

"Let us never have to go through that again." He muttered against her lips.

"Never again." She agreed.

"And now I must take my leave and go to Chicago. Call your friends. I do not want you to be alone today." He said, but before Elena could respond, he was gone.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

While Elena hadn't called Bonnie and Caroline immediately after Elijah left, she had called them soon enough, and to say that they were surprised by where she was inviting them over to would be a bit of an understatement. But they showed up anyway, and it was only when Caroline couldn't walk in that either of her friends voiced their distrust of the whole situation.

"What the hell, Elena? Why invite us over if you knew I couldn't get inside?" Caroline questioned.

"Because Elijah had my name put onto the lease this morning. Please come inside." Elena said before turning and heading to the living room.

"Elena, what is going on?" Bonnie asked. "Where is Elijah, and why would he put your name on the lease?"

"He's currently on his way to Chicago. He got a call from his sister, Rebekah, this morning, asking him to meet her in Chicago. He thinks that's where Klaus is, meaning that is probably where Stefan is as well. I offered to go with him, but he knew that there was no way he could get me there, meet with Rebekah, and get me back before tonight for us to hang out, so he asked me to stay here, and instead, spend the day with the two of you. Make a girl's day out of it." Elena explained. "He put my name on the lease so that I would be the one that could control which vampires can enter. That is a list of 2, by the way." She added, glancing at Caroline. "Yesterday afternoon, after we left my house, Damon showed up here, wanting to take me away from Elijah. Elijah wanted to keep me safe if there was ever a time that he had to leave, with me staying here, so that no one that isn't invited in can get in. My house has had too many vampires invited in."

"So after one full day of being in a relationship, you're already moving in with him?" Caroline asked.

"No. It's more of a safe house for me when Elijah isn't able to be here. We are both aware that it is far to early for him to ask me to move in with him."

"You really trust him, don't you?" Bonnie asked, her eyes wide.

"I do. He's never intentionally set out to hurt me. And the times that we've broken our words to each other, it's always been because of our respective families. I know neither of you see it, but being with Elijah, in any capacity, is the best way to keep me safe from Klaus. The Mikaelson family may be filled with a lot of crazy people, but they value family above all else, and they wouldn't bring harm to someone that any of them have come to care deeply for."

"Are you staying human if you are in a relationship with him?" Caroline inquired.

"For now, that is the plan. I know you didn't choose to become a vampire, Caroline, but you have taken to it amazingly. I, on the other hand, don't know how I would take to being a vampire. So he and I both want me to experience as much of my life as a human as I can."

"What do you need from us?" Bonnie asked.

"I need you to just be my best friends and support me. And it really wouldn't hurt either of you to try and get to know Elijah. He's nothing like his brother." Elena stressed.

"What about Stefan? Are you just giving up hope that he'll come back?" Caroline questioned.

"I still have hope that he'll turn his humanity back on, but I can't wait for him to come back to me. I told Elijah this yesterday, but I haven't told anyone else... after I found out that I shared a face with Katherine, and how much Stefan cared about her and loved her, I never felt secure in my relationship with him. No matter what he said or did, he never was able to give me the reassurance that he wasn't seeing her when he looked at me. It didn't help that she was so easily able to fool both him and Damon into thinking that she was me." Elena explained. "But despite knowing both Katherine and Tatia, Elijah has made me feel more secure in what we have than Stefan ever did."

"Who's Tatia?" Bonnie questioned.

"She was the one who's blood bound Klaus' curse. The first Petrova Doppelgänger. That's why Klaus needed my blood to break the curse. It was my ancestor's blood that bound it, so it needed to be one of her descendants' blood that broke it." Elena replied. "Katherine would have been used in the ritual had she not purposely turned herself into a vampire."

"That's... intense." Bonnie said slowly.

"I completely agree. But I think you need to be careful around him, Elena. You don't know him well enough yet to judge if he's the one for you, even if Stefan and Damon aren't." Caroline said.

"I know, and we're taking things slowly."


	8. Chapter 8

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 8

"So who's the better kisser? Stefan or Elijah? Because I can't imagine that you two haven't kissed yet." Caroline asked.

"Elijah, hands down." Elena replied.

"Better in bed?" Bonnie asked.

"Since Elijah and I haven't had sex yet, that would go to Stefan. BUT, after I was woken up from a nightmare last night, Elijah had me lay on him, essentially allowing himself to be a full body pillow, and I had the best sleep that I've had in a really long time." Elena explained.

"Tell us when that changes, because I'm slightly curious about how sex with an Original Vampire is like." Caroline said with a smirk.

"And you're curious about that... why?" Elena asked.

"Well, Klaus has shown an interest in me, a creepy one, but he's still kinda sexy in the bad boy sort of way, and I can't help but be curious." Caroline replied defensively.

"Well, what is sex with a werewolf like?" Bonnie questioned.

"Hot as hell. Literally. Because Tyler's body temp is higher than normal, it's always hot. But like, in a really good way." Caroline said as a blush crept up on her cheeks.

"What about you, Bon? How have you and Jeremy been?" Elena asked tentatively, not wanting to know about her brother's sex life.

"We haven't done anything other than kiss, but he's a good kisser. I do feel like he's been avoiding me a bit this summer, and I'm not sure why." Bonnie replied.

"If that ever changes, please don't tell me. I don't want to know about my brother's sex life." Elena said.

"Noted." Bonnie said with a nod.

"I'm starving. Does Elijah have any blood bags anywhere?" Caroline asked.

"He should. Let me check in the fridge."

As Elena left the room, she could feel her friends watching her every move. She had the feeling that at least Caroline feared that she was being compelled by Elijah, but she wasn't sure what Bonnie might be thinking. So much had changed since the end of Sophomore year when her parents had died. She used to know what her friends were thinking all the time, but since Bonnie had started using her powers as a witch, and Caroline had been turned into a Vampire, and even Tyler becoming a werewolf, nothing had been the same. She just wanted to be happy, and she really felt like being with Elijah could give her that. Shouldn't her friends and family be supporting her for realizing that she was in a toxic relationship with Stefan and Damon, and had gotten herself out of it? Opening the fridge, Elena grabbed a blood bag and brought it out to Caroline before returning to her seat on the couch and zoning out while her friends talked about what they were looking forward to during Senior year.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

It wasn't difficult to locate his siblings and the younger Salvatore brother upon landing in Chicago. In fact, Elijah didn't have to look for them at all since they were standing there, waiting for him when the Mikaelson family jet landed at the airport. When he stepped off the plane, Elijah was enveloped in a huge hug by Rebekah, and while he returned the hug with one arm, his eyes were glued on the man standing next to his brother. Elena's now ex-boyfriend. As Rebekah pulled away from the hug, Elijah gave his baby sister a kiss on the cheek before walking over to Niklaus and Stefan.

"Niklaus." Elijah said simply.

"I'd say it's nice to see you again, Brother, but being as how you are not a welcome sight, that would be a lie." Klaus replied.

"Come on, Nik. Admit it, you want our family back together, so I got Elijah here. Now we can undagger Kol and Finn, and we can be a family again." Rebekah said.

"Except I will not be staying in Chicago, Rebekah. I came to see you because you asked me to come up here, but I will be returning to Mystic Falls tonight." Elijah said.

"How's Elena?" Stefan asked.

"Confused and upset. Which is to expected in her situation. But she's getting through it... with some help." Elijah said.

"Caroline and Bonnie have always been able to help her get through the bad parts of her life. This should be no different." Stefan said with a small nod.

"Except for the fact that it is neither Miss Forbes, nor Miss Bennett to whom I am referring. And no, Mr. Salvatore, it is not your brother, either." Elijah replied before turning back to his siblings. "What exactly is going on here?" He asked.

"I woke our darling baby sister up, and she had the audacity to call you the first chance she got. I'm only trying to get Stefan to remember how much fun we had here in Chicago, back in the 20s and the only way to do that was to wake Rebekah up." Klaus explained.

"Why did you call me, Rebekah?" Elijah questioned.

"I wanted our family back together." Rebekah replied.

"I'm sorry to interrupt the family reunion, but going back to Elena... if it's not Bonnie, Caroline or Damon that's helping her through me leaving, then who is it?" Stefan asked.

"It is no longer any of your concern, Mr. Salvatore. As of yesterday morning, Elena made the decision to cut both you and your brother out of her life. As the summer has gone on, she came to the realization that what she had with you and your brother was too toxic of a relationship for her to be in, and she is trying to move on with her life with someone else." Elijah said, doing his best to not rub it in Stefan's face that _he_ was the one Elena was trying to move on with.

"Do I know the guy?"

"I do not know all of the people that you know, Mr. Salvatore, so I cannot say one way or another." Elijah said, turning back, once again to face his siblings. "If you are both inclined to want to get our family back together, then may I suggest doing so in Mystic Falls, because I do have other engagements to get back to. I made a promise that I cannot break." He said.

"Oh come on, Elijah, you just got here. Surely you can spare an hour or two to catch up with your baby sister while Nik and Stefan do whatever it is they do." Rebekah pleaded.

"2 hours, Rebekah, that is all I can spare." Elijah said simply while offering his arm to her.

Once they were far enough away from their brother and Stefan, Rebekah gave Elijah an expectant look. She wanted to know what was going on in his life, and more specifically, who he had become so smitten with, but Elijah refused to say anything while they were still at the airport. Rebekah's looks, and Elijah's refusal lasted for another 30 minutes as they walked around the city before Elijah finally gave in.

"It's Elena." Elijah said.

"She's the girl that Stefan is hung up on, and that Nik needed for his ritual. What about her?" Rebekah asked.

"I've slowly but surely been falling for her since I first met her, but, since she had been with Stefan, I didn't pursue anything. Keeping my feelings to myself. As it turns out, she returns the feelings." He explained.

"That's why you were so short with Stefan. You didn't want him to know that you're shaking up with his girlfriend." She said with a smirk.

"Technically, I am not 'shaking up' with her. Before I came up here, I did ensure that her name is on the lease to my apartment, so that in any event where I have to leave town, she will be safe, as only myself and her best friend, Caroline, can get in, but it's only been 1 full day, and is therefore much too soon for me to ask her to move in with me."

"Do you love her?"

"I might, but again, it's too soon to tell."

"I want to meet her."

"You are welcome to return to Mystic Falls with me, Sister."

"I wouldn't be able to visit you at your apartment, though, would I?"

"Not right away. But we could find you a place. I believe one of the other tenants in the same building that I'm living in is moving out, we could get you set up there."

"While that sounds great and all, Elijah, but what about Nik? And Stefan?"

"Rebekah, you do not need our brother's permission to come back to Virginia with me. While physically you still look 17, you are more than old enough to make your own decisions. If you want to join me tonight to fly back, I will welcome your company. If you need a day or two to decide, then I will ensure that the jet is back here and ready for you."

"Thank you, Elijah. I'll consider it."

"There is one other thing, Rebekah. The necklace that you used to wear, the one that belonged to Mother... Stefan gave it to Elena, but I am sure once I get back and explain the sentimentality of it to you, that she will happily give it back to you."

"Unbelievable. Not only did Nik make Stefan forget about me, but when Stefan then saw the necklace laying on the floor in that club, he kept it and gave it to another girl?"

"It appears so. But again, I'm sure Elena will give it back to you."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Elena had no idea how long she had been zoned out of the conversation, but she had gotten lost in her thoughts and no longer knew where the conversation was with Caroline and Bonnie. Grabbing her phone from the coffee table, she opened her text messages and typed one out to Elijah.

 **I miss you. – Elena**

As she stared at the screen, waiting for Elijah's reply (that she wasn't even sure would come any time soon), she started to shake her foot. All she wanted right now was for him to be holding her, but with him in Chicago, it made that difficult.

 **I miss you as well, sweet Elena. I'll be back later tonight. – Elijah**

Elena smiled to herself as she read and reread the response. And while she had been zoned out on what her friends were saying, they had still been paying attention to her, and they noticed the smile.

"Are you two sexting with him being _all the way_ up in Chicago?" Caroline asked in a sing-songy voice.

"I don't do sexting, Caroline. That was always your thing." Elena said.

"What did he say?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, I told him that I miss him, and he responded saying that he misses me too, and that he'll be back later tonight." Elena explained.

"You totally do have a thing for him. Why did you try to deny it yesterday morning on the phone?" Caroline questioned.

"I wasn't trying to deny it, Care. I just wasn't sure at that point how I was feeling. But I know now. I do really like him, and I probably have since I first met him. I just didn't realize it until two nights ago. And hell, maybe it was my subconscious holding off until I was 18 before allowing me to see that I do have feelings for him?" Elena said.

"Well, the age thing, and the fact that you were with Stefan." Bonnie commented.

"Yeah, that too." Elena said with a nod.

"Okay, with this new turn of events, we need to put on a RomCom and stuff our faces with popcorn." Caroline suggested.

"I don't think Elijah has any RomComs, Care." Elena responded slowly.

"So? Bonnie brought her laptop, we could always watch something on Netflix." Caroline said with a shrug.

"And Caroline brought the popcorn." Bonnie added.

"Okay then. RomComs and popcorn it is." Elena agreed with a nod.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"So, Elijah, what makes this girl different than the other girls that you've fallen for over the last millennium?" Rebekah asked, making sure not to give anything away as she and Elijah were rejoined by Niklaus and Stefan.

"She doesn't play games to mess with my emotions. And she has firmly chosen to be with me, despite others having feelings for her as well." Elijah replied, eyeing his brother and Stefan.

"Well, Tatia and Katerina both had that mysterious allure to them that made all the men fall at their feet, but they didn't know what they wanted. So it sounds like you've finally found a keeper, Brother." Klaus commented.

"I hope you're right, Niklaus, but it has only been a couple of days, so it is too early to tell how things will go in the long run." Elijah said.

"Elena's birthday was a couple of days ago, wasn't it?" Stefan asked.

"I do not know when Elena's birthday is, as that was never brought up in any of our conversations about keeping her loved ones safe from my brother." Elijah said, his voice starting to drip with boredom and annoyance.

"For someone who claims he doesn't care anymore, your constant questions about the doppelgänger are bordering on obsession, mate." Klaus commented.

"I'm obsessed? Really? Me? You're the one who's been hunting for the Petrova doppelgänger since you were bound with a curse using a Petrova's blood." Stefan scoffed.

"Enough talk about the bloody doppelgänger. We only have a little bit of time before Elijah needs to head back, and I don't want to listen to all of you squabble." Rebekah cut in.

"What do you suggest we do, Sister?" Klaus asked.

"Dinner." Rebekah said simply.

"Based on our diet, or Stefan's?" Klaus asked.

"Neither. I'm craving pizza."

"That won't fill you up, sweetheart."

"I wasn't suggesting it because I thought it would. I suggested it because the place across the street smells amazing."

"That's enough bickering from the two of you as well." Elijah cut in. "Niklaus, your constant need to put Rebekah down has, once again, grown tiresome. If you do not wish to feel alone again, I suggest you stop antagonizing her so often. As per Rebekah's suggestion, we will go across the street and have pizza for dinner, and then I shall be heading back to Virginia."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

After the third movie, the girls called it a night, and Caroline and Bonnie headed home. Elena was just about to head upstairs to take a bath when there was a knock on the front door. Glancing into the living room to see if her friends had possibly left something and seeing nothing, Elena narrowed her gaze before slowly opening the door a fraction and seeing Damon standing on the other side.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"Let's go Elena. I know Elijah isn't here; it's the perfect time to get you to safety." Damon said, trying to push the door open more.

"No. I'm staying where I am, Damon. And I'm perfectly safe and happy here." Elena retorted.

"Listen to yourself, Elena. He's compelled you into being with him." Damon said with a huff.

"He hasn't, actually. And not that it's any of your business, but I can recount every moment with Elijah. Now goodbye, Damon." She said firmly closing the door on him.

"Let me in, Elena!" Damon exclaimed as he pounded on the door.

Elena backed away from the door and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She needed Elijah. Pulling up his contact, she hit the call button and put her phone to her ear.

" **Elena, what's wrong?** " Elijah asked.

"Damon's here, and he's trying to get into the apartment." Elena said.

" **Stay inside, Elena.** "

"I am, and I'm not letting him in, but I could really use you right now."

" **I'm still in Chicago, but I'm heading back to the airport as we speak. I'll see you soon.** "

"Running here wouldn't be faster?" The hopefulness in her voice was evident.

" **I wish it would be, my dear.** " Elijah said.

"It was worth a shot. See you when you get here."

" **I'll be home to you soon.** "

Elena ended the call and frowned at the door. She could still hear Damon on the other side. She didn't want to be this close to him, even if there was a door separating them, but she was rooted to the spot. She didn't know how long she stood there, half hearing Damon's commands to open the door and let him in. Soon enough Elena snapped out of her thoughts and slammed her hand against the door.

"Shut up Damon! I'm not going anywhere with you!" Elena yelled.

"You're being compelled Elena! Why else would you want to be with Elijah over me or Stefan?" Damon asked.

"He doesn't need to compel me, Damon! Just leave me alone!"

"I'm not leaving until you come to your senses and come with me."

"You don't get it Damon! I'm done with you, I'm done with Stefan. I've cut both of you out of my life. What I had with the two of you was toxic. I'm done with you both, and I'm moving on. Just. Leave. Me. Alone." Elena said slamming her hand against the door with the last four words.

"Not without you, Elena." Damon said.

"I believe my girlfriend told you to leave her alone."


	9. Chapter 9

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 9

 **A/N:** I'm bumping the rating from T to M with this chapter. There is no actual sexual content in this chapter, but Elena and Elijah are getting closer to it, so I'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Girlfriend? Please, it's been two days." Damon scoffed as he turned to face Elijah.

"That doesn't change the fact that she is my girlfriend. Now, you won't be able to enter the apartment, because Elena doesn't want to invite you inside. So unless you want me to file harassment charges against you, and possibly a restraining order, you should leave." Elijah said.

"Elena wouldn't agree to that." Damon said.

"You really don't know me that well at all, Damon. Because I would agree to that." Elena said, opening the door enough to peek out and see Elijah. "I must have zoned out longer than I thought." She said.

"It's only an hour and 50 minute flight. And with a private jet, there's no wait time at gates, or dealing with security. I stressed the urgency of getting back here so that I could help you take care of the disturbance." Elijah said while pushing Damon away from Elena and closing the distance between them.

"I know it was only less than a day, but I missed you like crazy." Elena said as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"The only thing that stopped me from taking the heart of the other Salvatore was the thought of you. Although my annoyance at his constant questions about you started to show by the time I left."

"What did Rebekah have to say?"

"She wanted to get our family back together, but when I explained why I needed to come back to Mystic Falls, she understood, and is planning on coming down here herself. That necklace of yours, the one that Stefan gave you... it belonged to my mother, and was Rebekah's, and she would like it back."

"Of course. We can swing by the house in the morning and I can make sure all of the vervain is out of it, and then once she arrives, she can have it back."

"I told her that you would understand."

Elena smiled up at Elijah before their lips met in a deep kiss. As his hands ran down her sides, Elena used his shoulders as leverage and support to jump up and wrap her legs around his waist. It wasn't long into the kiss when Elena was pulling away for air, and Elijah moved his lips to her neck. As a moan escaped her lips, she smirked at Damon over Elijah's shoulder when he glared her, or him, or both. Elena really didn't care who Damon was glaring at. It didn't matter, Elijah was back, and she was in his arms.

"I'm still here, you know." Damon snapped.

"We are quite aware of the annoying fact. I thought I told you to leave." Elijah growled, his eyes not leaving Elena's face. The Salvatore did not warrant his gaze.

"I'm not leaving without Elena." Damon said.

"And she's chosen to stay here and not want anything to do with you or your brother. Now leave." Elijah replied before fully moving into the apartment, slamming the door and flashing Elena up to the bedroom. "How was your day with your friends?" He asked in between kisses to Elena's neck and jaw as he placed her down on the bed.

"Tense... at first, and then awkward." Elena said, biting her lower lip to keep from moaning.

"You don't have to keep your moans to yourself, my dear. I would love to hear how I'm making you feel." Elijah said with a smirk.

"Is less than a day apart leading to our first time?" Elena asked, her breath coming out in pants.

"If you would like it to." He replied, his hands already on the hem of her shirt and pushing it up so that he could kiss her stomach.

"I know you can't get me pregnant, but if you have protection, then yes, I want it to." Elena said, her body momentarily moving away from Elijah's ministrations before she arched into him.

Elijah let out a sigh at that and looked up at the woman beneath him. A pout was already forming on Elena's lips. Before it could fully form, Elijah kissed it away.

"I take it from your sigh that you don't, and therefore we won't be doing anything tonight?" Elena asked.

"I'm sorry, Elena. We will eventually take that step. If we are to believe that the universe led us to each other, then maybe this is the universe's way of saying that the time for physical intimacy isn't right." Elijah replied.

"What if we didn't do _that_ kind of sex?" Elena suggested.

"I want the first time we have sex to be us making love, Elena." Elijah said as his hand rested on Elena's stomach.

Elena nodded before curling up by the pillows and watching Elijah. She had zoned out so many times that day just thinking about Elijah that she had really been looking forward to him being back, so they could have their first time. And now that they weren't going to, she was disappointed... and it showed.

"Would you like me to go get some protection?" Elijah asked, watching Elena's face.

"It's your choice if you do or not, Elijah." Elena replied.

"Elena, please don't be upset with me. You are the first woman I've brought here and having been alive for as long as I have been, and not needing to worry about accidentally getting a woman pregnant, it wasn't the first thought on my mind to have some on hand." Elijah explained.

"I understand, Elijah."

"Then why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset, I'm disappointed. I was thinking about you all day, and hoping for this for once you got home, and to have it be brought to a stop because I want to use protection, it's disappointing. So it's nothing on your end. It's me."

"Oh, sweet Elena, I'm sorry to even be a fraction of the reason you are disappointed." Elijah said as he scooted closer to her and pulled her into his lap.

"I'll be okay, Elijah, really." Elena insisted. "So... I'm your girlfriend?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I know I haven't actually asked you to be my girlfriend, but I thought it was the appropriate title for what you are to me." Elijah said while running his fingers through her hair.

"Are you going to ask me?" She asked in a small voice as she laced her fingers with his.

"Elena Gilbert, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend? And allow me the chance to be your boyfriend?" He asked.

"Yes, of course I will."

"You mentioned earlier that your time with your friends was tense and awkward, can I inquire as to why that was?"

"The conversation turned to who's the better kisser, between you and Stefan. It's you, by the way." Elena said. "And then they wanted to know who's better in bed, and the only reason the answer wasn't you is because we haven't had sex yet." She added.

"I can see how that could be a tense conversation."

"It got awkward when the conversation turned to Bonnie and her relationship with Jeremy."

"Understandably. No one wants to hear about their sibling's sex lives. I certainly don't enjoy hearing about Rebekah's sex life. It usually comes about that it was because of her romantic paramours that Niklaus daggered her and put her in a coffin."

"Did you find out why Klaus un-daggered her while in Chicago with Stefan?"

"It seems that, back in the 1920s, Rebekah and Stefan had a dalliance with each other. When our father found them, Niklaus compelled Stefan to forget them until told otherwise."

"Is that when Stefan got ahold of Rebekah's necklace?"

"I believe so."

After that, Elena started to get tired. But she didn't want to leave the comfort of Elijah's arms to go to sleep just yet. Looking up at him, Elena gave Elijah a small smile before her eyes darted to the bathroom. Their bath the day before had felt amazing, and she wasn't against having another one.

"You want to relax in the bathtub again?" Elijah asked.

"Yes, but as long as you join me." Elena said.

"Is that a good idea?"

"Elijah, I stood just inside the door for a little over 2 hours, zoning out as Damon tried to get me to leave with him. I zoned out at least once when hanging out with Caroline and Bonnie earlier today. I need to relax, and your presence helps with that. But the bath helps also, so why wouldn't I want both?"

"You make a fair point. And would my beautiful girlfriend like another massage as well?"

"I wouldn't be opposed."

Lifting Elena up in his arms, Elijah walked them to that bathroom and sat her down on the counter before getting the bath water going. When he turned back to Elena, she gave him a daring look. She was silently giving him two choices. Both of which would lead to the same result, so Elena saw it as a win-win for them. Motioning for him to come over to her, Elena grasped Elijah's tie once he was close enough and removed it, her eyes never leaving his. Once Elena's hands pulled his shirt from his dress pants, and started unbuttoning it, Elijah grasped the hem of Elena's shirt and pulled it off of her, his eyes darting down to take in her chest and stomach and darkening with desire upon seeing the smooth skin of her torso.

"About time." Elena muttered with a smirk.

Despite hearing his girlfriend's comment, Elijah ignored it. If she decided to call him on it later, he would tell her that he ignored it because he agreed with it, and he didn't want to acknowledge that he agreed in the moment. By the time the rest of their clothes were discarded about the bathroom, the tub was full, and Elijah turned the water off, stepping in before offering Elena his hand to help her in as well. As soon as Elena had settled back against him, Elijah wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close.

"Will you tell me about your siblings?" Elena asked. "I know we talked about our lives yesterday, but we didn't really discuss our siblings." She clarified.

"There isn't much to say about them..." Elijah said, trailing off at the end.

"Elijah, I know that Klaus tends to dagger you and your siblings, but surely there's something about your other siblings that you haven't already mentioned? I just want to know you better and knowing about one's siblings can help with that." Elena said slowly, picking her words with the upmost care.

"Elena... Niklaus is not the only brother that I have that has a tendency to kill people who disagree with him. Since becoming a Vampire, my younger brother Kol is the same way. Rebekah is quick to rage, like our father. Finn... is a bit too much like our mother." Elijah explained. "And frankly, now that you are in my life, I don't want you to ever meet Kol or Finn. Unfortunately things didn't go the way we wanted, and while I had wanted to put off you ever having to meet Niklaus, he hurt you. He drained you of your blood. He touched you, Elena."

"But you and John both found solutions that could have saved me from what Klaus did. If Damon hadn't forced me to drink his blood, I would have taken the elixir that you had. Yes, your brother killed me, but he didn't win, Elijah. I'm still here, and I'm still human."

"He touched you, Elena. In a way that no man ever wants to see his own flesh and blood touch the woman he cares for."

"Elijah... you do remember that you touched me first, right?" Elena asked.

"Not in the ways that I most desired to. His touch was possessive, intimate, despite it's brutality. I didn't like having to watch that, and I hated that there as nothing that I could do to stop it." Elijah replied, running his hands up and down Elena's sides and over her thighs slowly.

"Well, he's not the one that gets to touch me now, and he's not the one that gets to share a bath or a bed with me. So I'd say that you are the superior brother." Elena said while holding back a moan.

"If being with you is the only thing that makes me superior to my brother, then I'll take it." Elijah whispered seductively into her ear. "And by the way, Miss Gilbert, if it hasn't been made clear, I am a very possessive man myself, and I do not tolerate other men that are not your family touching you. Mr. Donovan and Mr. Lockwood are the only two men that are outside your family that I will do my best to be okay with touching you. I might be uncomfortable with it, but I will not hurt them for touching you." He finished.

"So what you're saying is that, other than yourself, Jeremy, Alaric, Matt and Tyler are the only guys who can touch me? I can live with that. I don't want anyone else touching me. Or holding me like this."

"I'm glad that we're on the same page with this, Elena." Elijah said with a warm smile and a twinkle in his eyes. "Now, what kind of massage would you like?"

"The easiest one, given the position we're currently in, would be a neck massage." Elena replied.

"Neck massage it is."

As Elijah moved his hands from Elena's waist to the back of her neck, she was acutely aware of every spot on her body that he was touching... especially when his fingertips ghosted along the sides of her breasts. A soft moan escaped her lips once Elijah reached his destination and started to work out the knots. How she was able to work up that much tension in her body in just one day was beyond Elena's knowledge, but as long as she had Elijah there to massage the tension away, then she couldn't find it in herself to care. And while the massage itself felt amazing, everything got even better when Elijah's lips came in contact with her shoulder and the side of her neck, leaving a trail of kisses in his wake.

"I know you agreed to go out to dinner with Alaric and Jeremy tomorrow night, but what do you say to lunch with my sister? She would like to meet you, and I think as long as antagonizing one another doesn't happen, that the two of you might actually get along." Elijah suggested.

"She's your sister, I have no reason to antagonize her." Elena replied.

"As I mentioned, Rebekah is quick to rage. While she's already upset that Stefan gave you her necklace, once she meets you, she might be a little upset that there is another girl in my life that pulls my focus from her." Elijah warned.

"So basically, if she gets testy with me, don't retaliate, or things could get extremely bad, relatively quickly." Elena surmised.

"Precisely. Rebekah was still in her late teenage years when we were turned, so while she's been alive for over 1000 years, she was robbed of the chance of reaching the mature adulthood that some of the rest of us did."

"Will she be enrolling at Mystic Falls High for Senior Year?"

"She might. Given the compressed amount of time that we had today and given that she hadn't made her decision on whether or not she would be coming down here until I was at the airport, her enrolling in yet another year of high school didn't come up. But you are more than welcome to talk to her about it tomorrow."

"Was this your plan? Come home and seduce me into agreeing to have lunch with your sister tomorrow?"

"You give me far too much credit, Elena. My plan was just to come home and seduce you. If the seduction leads to you agreeing to have lunch with Rebekah, then that is just an added bonus."

"And a boost to your ego on what you can get me to agree to."

Elena's response was muttered, but her voice wasn't dripping with malice. She didn't mind the idea of having lunch with Elijah's sister. If the last two days were any indication of how well they worked together, and things were to continue to work out with her and Elijah, she would need to meet the rest of his family, and aside from Klaus, who would have a lot to make up for, which Elena was sure Elijah would insist upon, meeting his only living sister was as good a start as any. It also didn't hurt that Rebekah would still look to be the same age as Elena, so they could bond over that as well. With a smile, Elena carefully turned around so that she was on her knees facing Elijah.

"I would love to have lunch with your sister tomorrow. Will it just be me and Rebekah, or will you be there as well to be a buffer in case things start to go sideways?" Elena asked.

"I will be there as well. I wouldn't put either of you in a situation that could potentially be awkward." Elijah replied, his eyes momentarily drifting down when Elena turned to face him before looking back at her when she spoke.

"Then I think we should get some sleep, because I have a feeling it's going to be a long day tomorrow." Elena commented.

"Will I be your undead full body pillow again tonight?" Elijah asked with a smirk.

"After sleeping so well last night, yes. You will be." Elena said with a serious look and a nod.

With a nod of his own, Elijah stepped out of the tub before helping Elena out and letting the water drain. Once they were both dried off and he was in a pair of sweatpants, Elijah "helped" Elena get changed for bed before pulling her in for a deep kiss and carrying her to the bed. As Elijah settled under the covers, offset slightly towards the closet from the middle of the bed, and Elena crawled over to lay on top of him, all that Elijah could think about was how much he didn't want to screw this up. Elena had become an integral part of his life, even before he thought he had a chance with her, and now that they were starting a relationship, he couldn't lose her. And he knew that there was a chance that she wouldn't be able to bounce back if she lost someone else that she cared for. Not after losing everyone else in her life. So, with a kiss to the top of her head, and feeling her breathing even out shortly after that, Elijah closed his eyes and prayed that he would be good for her.


	10. Chapter 10

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 10

The following morning, Elena woke up alone, tucked comfortably into the middle of Elijah's bed. As her eyes opened slowly, she listened carefully to judge if Elijah was just elsewhere in the apartment and hadn't wanted to wake her, but she didn't hear any movement. Frowning, Elena sat up, and glanced around. There was no trace that Elijah had even been in the bedroom that morning. Pushing the covers away from her body and got out of bed and headed downstairs, only to be met with an unfamiliar blonde watching her from the doorway.

"Um, hello?" Elena questioned.

"Ah, you're awake. Elijah will be thrilled. I'm Rebekah."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you. I, uh, thought Elijah and I were going to pick you up from the airport together?" Elena asked.

"That had been the plan, yes, but plans ended up changing, so he came to get me himself and let you slept. Said you've had a stressful few days and needed the rest." Rebekah replied.

"I see." Elena said with a slight frown.

"I've never seen my brother as happy as he was when he was talking about you yesterday. And don't worry, except for when Stefan brought you up in conversation, Elijah never mentioned your name around Stefan." Rebekah commented before glancing over her shoulder, causing Elena to join her in the doorway and glance down the hall herself. "There you are, Brother. You upset your girlfriend." She said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry Elena. I didn't mean to upset you. I had left a note in the kitchen, but I suppose leaving it in the bedroom would have been a better idea." Elijah said before placing a small kiss on her lips. "How long have you been awake?" He asked.

"A few minutes." Elena replied glancing down at the luggage that he was dragging/carrying behind him. "Is someone going on vacation?" She asked.

"Oh, those are mine. Nik bought me a whole bunch of new clothes and some luggage when I told him that I would be joining Elijah down here." Rebekah said.

"Got it." Elena responded with a nod.

"Rebekah is aware of the situation with the apartment, so she's not waiting for you to invite her in. She's just being stubborn and refusing the carry any of her own things to her apartment down the hall." Elijah said when he caught Elena's worried look.

"You're not upset about not being able to come into your brother's apartment?" Elena asked in a small voice, glancing at Rebekah.

"Of course not. I understand why he did what he did to keep you safe. Hell, he almost had me thinking of asking to put your name on my lease too. But we'll get to know each other first." Rebekah said, and smile pulling at her lips when Elena's eyes went wide at that.

"Elena, darling, would you mind trying to talk my sister into helping me with _her_ luggage?" Elijah asked.

"'Darling' sounds a lot better coming from you than it does coming from Kol. You make it sound like the form of endearment it's meant to be, Kol makes it sound creepy." Rebekah commented as she grabbed the lightest bag from the pile. "And here, I'm helping." She added with a smirk.

"I can help. Let me just get changed really quick." Elena offered.

"Nonsense, Elena. Elijah's got it." Rebekah said.

"Sister, you have the key to your apartment, why don't you start carrying these yourself while I wish my girlfriend a proper good morning." Elijah suggested.

"For the record, that is not something I need to see... ever." Rebekah said as she grabbed another suitcase and walked down the hall. "Oh, brother, we'll need to go shopping to furnish this place." She called from her own doorway.

"She seems nice so far." Elena commented as Elijah stepped into the apartment and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm sorry for leaving without waking you this morning. You look too peaceful and stress-free when you sleep, and I couldn't bring myself to wake you. How you managed to stay asleep when I moved out from underneath you is amazing." Elijah said as he brushed some stray strands of hair behind her ears.

"Even if I wasn't awake, did you at least give me a kiss before you headed out?" Elena asked.

"On the forehead, yes." Elijah replied. "But I got you something before I picked up Rebekah." He added with a smile.

"Really? What?" Elena asked.

"It's in the car. Unfortunately, with as much stuff as my brother bought my sister yesterday, I couldn't carry her luggage and your present." Elijah replied. "But wait right here for just a moment, and I'll go get it."

"Okay." Elena responded with a smile.

Before she would even ponder what he might have gotten her, Elijah was back in front of her, holding out a small wrapped box. Narrowing her eyes a bit, she try to gauge if Elijah was serious about this present. With a smile of encouragement from Elijah, Elena took the box from Elijah's hand and slowly tore the wrapping off of it. The black velvet box that she found beneath the paper wasn't settling her mind on what was inside. With a shaking hand, Elena opened the lid and had to rapidly blink back tears at the piece of jewelry that she saw. Inside was a charm bracelet that had charms for each of her friends and family members, both alive and gone.

"Elijah, when did you have time to put this together?" Elena asked.

"I've been getting it set up since the ritual. I knew your birthday was coming up, and while I knew it would in no way be able to make up for what my brother did to you, I wanted you to have all of your friends and family with you at all times. The names are on one side of the charms, with their relation to you on the other. And while I didn't want to be presumptuous, I had the jewelry maker make a charm with my name on it, but because I wasn't sure what you considered our relationship, the back of it is currently blank." Elijah explained. "While we are out later today for lunch, I can swing by the jewelry store and have him engrave our relationship onto the back."

"This is my birthday present?" Elena questioned slowly.

"It is. I'm sorry it's a few days late. And I know it's expensive, but I figured it would be something that you can wear all the time, and not get questioned about it."

"Thank you, Elijah. I love it."

"May I help you put it on?"

"Yes please."

As Elena watched Elijah clasp the bracelet around her wrist, she couldn't help but smile. Once it was in place, she twisted her arm back and forth to see all of the charms. Her parents and Jeremy and Jenna were there; Caroline and Bonnie, Matt and Tyler; Alaric; even John and Isobel. She noticed that there weren't charms for Stefan and Damon, and she was thankful for that. Wrapping her arms around Elijah's neck, she lifted herself onto her toes and pressed her lips to his.

"If you two lovebirds are done making me sick, I'd really like to see what my birthplace looks like these days." Rebekah commented from the doorway.

"Come now, Sister, surely you can over come your discomfort for a few more minutes?" Elijah questioned. "Elena was thanking me for her birthday present."

"Seeing as how neither of you are naked at the moment, I supposed I can wait a few more minutes." Rebekah responded with an overexaggerated sigh.

"How about we make a deal, Rebekah. You head back to your apartment and get an idea of what you want to furnish it with, to give your brother and I a few more minutes alone together, and before we go out sight-seeing, we can stop by my house and I can get you back your necklace." Elena suggested.

"Playing the irreplaceable trinket card in the form of a deal. Elijah, I like her, she's a lot more fun than the other two. Don't screw this up." Rebekah said, a wide smile gracing her lips.

"I have no intention of screwing it up, Sister." Elijah replied, his eyes never leaving Elena.

Once Rebekah headed back to her new apartment, Elena gave Elijah a smile as he turned to close the front door before turning in the opposite direction and hurrying up the stairs. While she had gotten an extremely miniscule head start, Elena found herself being wrapped in Elijah's arms before she was even half way up to the bedroom. With a squeal of laughter, Elena tried to twist around in Elijah's embrace to kiss him, but he held her close enough that she couldn't turn as much as she would have liked.

"My dear, sweet, darling Elena, did you really think you would be able to beat me up the stairs?" Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow once he had lightly tossed her onto the bed.

"It was worth a shot. I knew I couldn't outrun you, but I thought I would have at least gotten more than halfway." Elena replied with a smirk.

"You wanted me to chase you, didn't you?" Elijah asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "No... that's not it. You wanted me to catch you. You wanted me to wrap you in my arms." He continued. "You intrigue me, Elena. In a way that I've never been intrigued before." He finished.

"And you, Elijah, excite me. You make me feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Like I'm living my life again. Living in a way that I haven't done since before my parents died." Elena replied turning over onto her knees and scooting towards the edge of the bed.

"Elena..." Elijah said slowly as he closed the distance between them.

Elena saw Elijah's eyes darken. And while, for a very brief moment, she thought his vampire visage was coming out, she just as quickly pushed that thought aside when she realized that his eyes had darkened with lust.

"Elijah..." Elena responded just as slowly.

"I'm about to kiss you, and I do not think I will be able to stop myself from going beyond that." Elijah warned, moving his head in closer to rest his forehead against hers.

"Rebekah is waiting on us, and I still need to get dressed." Elena replied, their lips barely separated.

"My sister needs to learn how to be patient, and I need to be with you, Elena. I need to kiss you, touch you, be one with you. Please Elena, we both want this, and the risk of pregnancy is 0% since I can't reproduce." Elijah begged.

"Did you mean what you said yesterday morning?" Elena asked in a small voice.

"You mean when I called you 'my love'?" Elijah questioned, and Elena nodded. "I do mean it, Elena. But I also know being only days into our relationship, that it's too early to be saying that to each other." He replied.

"Then wouldn't us having sex be just that. If it's too early in our relationship to be saying the L word, then logic dictates that it's too early to be making love. And you said you wanted our first time to be when we're making love." Elena said with frown. Elijah was right in saying that they both wanted it, but they needed to be smart about this.

"You're right, darling. Something just comes over me when we play our little flirting games that I don't always think logically or reasonably." Elijah said with a sigh.

"It will happen Elijah. You are right in saying that we do both want it, and we both know that it'll happen when it's meant to. But not when your sister, who you warned me not to upset, is waiting for us." Elena said, her voice soft as she framed his face with her hands before locking her fingers together on the back of his neck.

"How am I so lucky as to be the one that gets to call you mine?" Elijah asked.

"Don't let Ric hear you say that; he'll have a field day." Elena replied with a smile while returning to their position of their foreheads resting together.

"Now that you've told me not to say it around him, I might just have to. Just to gauge his reaction." Elijah said with a smirk.

"He already didn't like when you had your arm around my waist, do you really want to push your luck here, Elijah?" Elena asked with a wide-eyed expression.

"... Maybe?" Elijah tried to keep a straight face with his answer but upon seeing Elena's stern look broke into a smile. "I'm only joking, my darling. I won't purposely piss off your step-father. Now what beautiful outfit will you be wearing today?" He asked.

"I have a white sundress in my bag." Elena replied.

With a nod, Elijah grabbed the dress from the bag while Elena brushed her teeth and her hair. Once she was dressed, Elena pulled her hair into a high ponytail, opting to wait until they got to her house to curl the ends of the ponytail. The entire time that she was getting ready, Elena could feel Elijah's eyes on her, watching her every move. Usually she found it unnerving when a guy watched her get ready... at least she always did when she had been with Stefan, but with Elijah, it was different. She wasn't bothered by his staring. She chalked it up to the fact that Stefan always seemed to have an intense gaze when he watched her get ready, where as Elijah's gaze was soft and loving, admiring. With that realization, Elena paused her movements. Whereas Elijah had made it clear that he only saw her, Stefan had always seen her as Katherine. Elijah's gaze was loving and admiring because he was seeing her; Stefan's was intense because he was expecting her to start acting like Katherine at any moment.

"Are you ready to go?" Elijah asked.

"Yes. And is it weird to say that I'm excited to spend time with your sister?" Elena asked.

"It's not weird. But for my sanity, it concerns _me_ that you want to spend time with Rebekah."

"Do you ever call your siblings by their nicknames? I've noticed it's always 'Niklaus' and 'Rebekah', never 'Klaus' or 'Bekah', or really any shortened variation of their names." Elena questioned.

"Very rarely do I call my siblings anything other than their given names. Rebekah tends to call Niklaus, 'Nik', Kol would do so on occasion as well. Kol also tends to call Rebekah, 'Bekah' or 'Bex'. Finn and Kol can't really be given nicknames, do to their names already being short." Elijah explained.

"What about you? Did any of your siblings give you a nickname?" Elena asked.

"On extremely rare occasions my siblings have called me 'Eli', but I detest that nickname, and made that quite clear to them, so they stopped using it. If anything, dropping the 'E' at the beginning of my name, as you did when you called me the other night, is the only "nickname" I'll really go by." He replied.

"I'll keep that in mind." She said with a smile. "Shall we?" She asked.

Pushing away from the wall that he was leaning against, Elijah held his hand out to Elena which she happily accepted. As they headed out of the room, she made sure to grab her leather jacket and purse, draped the jacket over her arm and placing the strap to her purse on her shoulder. Once they reached the front door, and Elijah opened it, they found Rebekah standing on the other side, her hand raised in a fist to knock.

"About bloody time. I was starting to think you both forgot about me and had started doing things that I don't ever want to think about my older brother doing." Rebekah said with a sigh of relief.

"He wanted to." Elena muttered.

"You wanted me to chase and catch you, Elena. So I am not entirely to blame in that." Elijah commented with a smirk.

"Okay, again, don't want to think about those things where you're concerned, Elijah. Can we just _not_ talk about the physical side of your relationship, and just head out for sightseeing and lunch?" Rebekah requested.

"I'm with Rebekah. We should head out. There's a lot to get done today before dinner tonight, and I have a feeling that it's going to be a little pushed back once we stop by my house. Which reminds me..." Elena said as she pulled her phone out and sending a text to Jeremy and Alaric letting them know that she was stopping by the house with Elijah and his sister.

"Giving them a heads up that they will being having a female guest?" Elijah asked with a smirk.

"Yes. And to give you a heads up Rebekah, my step-father is a self-appointed Vampire Hunter, and he's not a fan of Elijah, so if you want to sweet talk him into laying off, feel free. He wouldn't dare attack you." Elena said.

"A vampire hunter?" Rebekah asked, eyeing Elijah.

"He's not nearly as dangerous to be around as Alexander was. You will be fine, Sister." Elijah said calmly while ushering Elena out of the apartment and closing the door behind them.

"Who's Alexander?" Elena asked.

"A member of a group of Hunters called The Five. They were determined to wipe out all existence of vampires, and they were the first ones to have possession of the daggers and white oak ash that Niklaus is so fond of using on us." Elijah explained. "He was also, for a time, Rebekah's boyfriend." He added.

"I am so sorry, Rebekah. If you don't want to be around Ric, you don't have to be." Elena said quickly.

"No, it's okay. I can handle it." Rebekah replied slowly.

The drive from the apartment to the Gilbert house was a silent one. Elena tried to find something to talk to Rebekah about, but nothing seemed like it would be good enough in the current situation. Maybe by the time they got to lunch they would be able to find something. Once they pulled up in front of her house, Elena was only slightly surprised to find Alaric and Jeremy standing on the front porch... waiting for them to get there. But before either Elena or Rebekah could get out of the car, Elijah was out and walking up to the house, telling them to wait for a moment.

"What's going on?" Rebekah asked.

"I'm not entirely sure." Elena responded.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"Haven't you kept her to yourself long enough, Elijah? She should be here, at home, with her family." Alaric said, his arms folded across his chest as he glared at the Original.

"I am not keeping her against her will, Alaric. I'm trying to keep her safe. Every choice that she has made has been her own." Elijah replied.

"She's not compelled?" Jeremy asked.

"No, she is not. I've only compelled Elena once, and that was back when we first met and to get answers about the moonstone. I have had no need to compel her since." Elijah explained.

"Is she okay?" Jeremy questioned.

"She is okay, but she's also upset, and understandably so. Her friends and family, who should be supporting her in her decisions, and allowing her to make those decisions as the adult that she is, are continuously questioning her and telling her that she's wrong in who she wants to be with." Elijah said.

"She's still a kid, Elijah." Alaric interjected.

"No she's not Ric. Elijah's right. We shouldn't be trying to keep Elena from being with him. If she's happy, then we should be happy for her." Jeremy said.

"Not you too, Jer." Alaric said turning from the vampire to the teen.

"I love Elena more than anything. She's the only blood family that I have left, sister or cousin. But if we keep trying to keep her away from Elijah, we'll only succeed in pushing her away. I can't do that to her. Not after everything she's been through." Jeremy said before turning back to Elijah. "Her text said that your sister is with the two of you?" He asked.

"Yes, Rebekah was undaggered by Niklaus recently, and after visiting Chicago yesterday where they were, my sister decided to join me here in Mystic Falls. We stopped by before going out to lunch because Elena needs to get her necklace that Mr. Salvatore gave her. It belongs to Rebekah, as it had been our mother's necklace." Elijah explained.

"It has vervain in it." Jeremy commented.

"We are aware. Elena plans to clean that out before giving it back to my sister. However, when we pulled up and the two of you were out here, I wasn't going to allow them to be put in harms way if we couldn't at least come to an understanding or a truce." Elijah said.

"You wouldn't allow?" Alaric questioned. "That sounds too possessive for my liking." He added.

"I care about Elena's safety just as much as the two of you do. Even if you don't mean to cause any physical harm to her, emotional pain is still very much a thing that you can inflict on her, and I do not like seeing her hurt... in any form. And Rebekah is my baby sister. I would never put her in harm's way, either." Elijah said. "Now, will you stand down? Or will you deny Elena the chance at happiness?" He asked.

"Come on in, Elijah. You and your sister are welcome here." Jeremy said.

"Jeremy!" Alaric exclaimed.

"Let it go, Ric. You're my guardian, and my sister's step-father, but I'm not going to push my sister away or try and stop her from being happy."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"It looks like we are able to get out of the car now." Elena said.

"Good, because I'm getting cramped back here." Rebekah replied.


	11. Chapter 11

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 11

As Elena and Rebekah got out of the car, Elijah walked back over to them. Before anything could be said, Elena's phone started buzzing, so with a sigh she pulled it out and upon seeing an unknown number calling, she declined the call. It was probably Stefan calling from Chicago, but she didn't care even it wasn't him. She was moving on, and she felt happier with Elijah in the 3 days that they had been together than she had with Stefan after finding out about Katherine. Linking her arm with Rebekah, Elena offered Elijah a smile.

"What was all of that about?" She asked.

"Alaric believes that I am keeping you against your will. Jeremy has come around, as he only wants you to be happy." Elijah explained. "He's also invited Rebekah into the house." He added, and Elena's eyes went wide.

"Alrighty then. Let's get this over with." Elena replied.

As the trio walked up to the house, Alaric kept his gaze trained on Elena. When she met his eyes, she offered him a smile, but he returned it with a tight grimace. Turning to Elijah and Rebekah, she told them to head in and she'll be in momentarily. Both siblings looked between Elena and Alaric, but Elijah knew that Alaric wouldn't touch Elena, so he escorted Rebekah inside.

"Other than me not being with Elijah and ultimately not being happy because of it, is there any way that you can see us getting past this?" Elena asked.

"Elena... I want what's best for you, and I just don't think that Elijah is what's best for you." Alaric replied.

"And... what? You think Stefan or Damon is?" Elena questioned.

"Don't put words in my mouth, Elena. Because honestly, I don't think being with any vampire is what's best for you. What happens if you get attacked, by anyone or anything, and Elijah can't stop himself from feeding from you?" Alaric countered.

"You don't even know him, Ric. Don't make assumptions about him, because it really pisses me off. He accidentally tasted my blood the other day and he was across the room before I could even blink. He's got a lot more control than you give him credit for." Elena snapped.

"Elena..." Alaric started.

"Enough, Ric! I get that you don't like my choices in men, but you have to get over that. You don't want me with anyone else, because you want to keep me all to yourself. Your last link to Isobel. You think that because she went to Damon and begged him to turn her into a vampire, that I'll leave you the same way. But I'm not Isobel. Just because I'm drawn to vampires doesn't mean that I would leave you. You are my family, Ric." Elena ranted.

"You're putting words in my mouth again, Elena." Alaric warned.

"What are you going to do about it? I'm an adult, Ric. You can't punish me. It was only found out that you were married to my biological mother _after_ you were dating my adoptive aunt. You only became my step-father after you thought Isobel was dead." Elena huffed.

"You've been my responsibility all summer, Elena. You and Jeremy. Do you really think I can just get over that when a 1000 year old vampire worms his way into your heart?" Alaric asked.

"I never expected you to let go over night, Ric. But at least give him a chance. Get to know him. If not for his benefit or yours, but for me." Elena argued.

"I can't do that, Elena." Alaric replied.

"Why not? Why can't you give him a chance for me?" She pushed.

"Because I love you too much Elena."

"You what?"

"Not in a romantic sense, Elena. I would undoubtedly go to hell for that. But as a daughter."

"You're taking this 'step-father' thing a lot more seriously than I thought you were."

Her response was whispered, but Alaric still heard it. Running his hands through his hair and then rubbing his face, Alaric reached out to Elena and placed a hand on her shoulder before pulling her into a hug.

"I didn't realize how much I was seeing you as my daughter until Elijah showed up at here the other night with you asleep in his arms. Something inside me clicked and I reacted over-accordingly. I'm so sorry that I upset you. But I can't let that go now. I'm the only father figure you have left, Elena, and it's my responsibility to keep you safe." Alaric said as he held the back of her head, sighing when Elena wrapped her arms around his body.

"I'll always be around, Ric. Just because I'm starting a relationship with Elijah doesn't mean that you're losing me as a daughter. Elijah and his siblings are protective of the ones close to each of them. Klaus won't hurt me, because once he finds out that I'm with Elijah, he'll feel obligated to protect me, instead of hurting me. You aren't the only one that can keep me safe. You have the Mikaelson family as well. Or, at least, for now, you have Elijah and Rebekah. Klaus is in Chicago, and he doesn't know that I'm the girl that Elijah has started falling for. His other brothers, Finn and Kol, they're still daggered and laying in coffins. You don't have to shoulder the responsibility of protecting me by yourself, Ric. I know it'll take some time, but all I'm asking is that you at least try to get to know Elijah." Elena said when she pulled away from the hug.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Elena, your brother is making eyes at my sister..." Elijah said trailing off as he caught the end of the hug and Elena pulling away.

"JEREMY! YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND! STOP MAKING EYES AT REBEKAH!" Elena called out as she walked past Elijah and into the house.

"No, 'Lena, I don't. Bonnie and I broke up weeks ago." Jeremy replied.

"She said that other than you seemingly avoiding her this summer, you two were good." Elena said, giving her brother a really confused look.

"I have been avoiding her... since we broke up. But she's also been avoiding me. Neither of us knows what to say to the other. We've known each other since we kids, we started dating, and now that we've broken up, it's awkward." Jeremy said.

With a shake of her head at the thought that Bonnie would lie to her, even if it was because her relationship with Jeremy had always been an awkward topic of conversation, was something that Elena couldn't process. Walking upstairs to her room, she went to her dresser to grab the necklace.

"Your brother is cute." Rebekah commented as Elena walked towards the bathroom.

"Technically, he's my cousin. The people who raised me, they are Jeremy's parents, but are my aunt and uncle on my biological father's side. They adopted me." Elena explained.

"Very Hamlet of them."

"Not really... it's not like my uncle killed my father and married my mother. Jeremy's father is my paternal uncle. My biological mother is Ric's ex-wife."

"That sounds extremely complicated."

"It is. Because not only is Ric technically my step-father, he was dating my adoptive aunt before Klaus killed her in the ritual."

"Was she a vampire or a werewolf?"

"He turned her into a vampire just to have a vampire to sacrifice for the ritual. Originally the vampire he was going to sacrifice was Caroline. Which I find odd since he's taken an interest in her."

"My brother doesn't care if he's shown an interest in a woman. If he can use her for his own personal gain, he'll toss her aside in the blink of an eye."

"Rebekah, what did you think of Tatia and Katerina?" Elena asked after a few minutes of silence as she rinsed the vervain from the necklace.

"Tatia took Nik and Elijah away from me. I never actually met Katerina." Rebekah replied.

"And I know we only met a few hours, but what do you think of me?" Elena questioned.

"I think you're good for my brother."

With a small nod, Elena dried off the necklace and handed it Rebekah. When the Original deemed that it wouldn't burn her, she clasped it around her neck.

"Thank you, Elena. When I realized that it was missing after Nik un-daggered me, I didn't think I would see it again."

"Of course. If I had known that it had belonged to someone else that Stefan had dated, no matter no long or brief your relationship with him had been, I never would have accepted it."

 **TVD – HBE - TVD**

After Elena had walked away, Elijah and Alaric leveled each other with a gaze.

"She didn't move in with you, did she?" Alaric asked.

"No, she did not. It was an unexpected trip that took me to Chicago yesterday, and after Damon had shown up unannounced and uninvited at my apartment, I asked her to stay there after putting her name on the lease. We are both aware that it is too soon for me to ask her to move in with me. Putting her name on the lease was a layer of protection against anyone who might come after her. The Salvatore brothers won't be able to get in, nor will any of my siblings, unless Elena invites them in. She has kept the vampires invited in to 2: me and Miss Forbes." Elijah explained.

"If she hasn't moved in, then why is the layer of protection necessary?" Alaric questioned.

"The Salvatore brothers have been invited in here. Elena's doppelgänger has been invited in. Possibly even more vampires that I am not aware of. If I have to leave town for whatever reason, I wanted Elena to have a place that she could go where she's the one in control of who can be invited in." Elijah replied. "She still lives here with you and Jeremy." He added.

"How long have you been harboring feelings for her?" Alaric asked.

"Since I first met her. I respected the fact that she was in a relationship and kept my feelings to myself. It wasn't until she called me, and I was driving her home the other night that I found out that she returned those feelings."

"So you were just waiting for her to be single to make your move?"

"I did not reveal my feelings to her until she revealed hers to me. I know that I do not have your trust, given the number of times that I have gone back on my word to Elena, but I would never force her to do anything against her will. And had she not told me of her feelings for me, I wouldn't have told her of mine, whether she was single or not."

Alaric turned away from Elijah and took a deep breath.

"Elena asked me to give you a chance, and to at least try to get along with you. While I really don't want to condone this relationship, given your brother's obsession with Elena and anyone who shares her face, I don't want to lose her, or further push her to a point where she is forced to chose between you and her family. So for her, and her only, I will try." Alaric said before turning back to face the Original. "But if you _ever_ hurt her, in any way, I will find you, and I will make you wish your were truly dead." He added, his voice low.

"Duly noted Alaric." Elijah said, completely unfazed by the threat.

"You two boys done out here?" Elena asked from the doorway.

"I believe we've come to an understand for your benefit, my darling." Elijah replied moving to her side.

"Ric?" She asked turning to him.

"I'll do what you asked." He replied, his eyes landing on the bracelet that Elena was wearing. "What is that?" He asked.

"It's my birthday present from Elijah. It has a charm for each of my friends and each of my family members. Ones that are dead and ones that are still alive." Elena replied holding her arm out for him to get a better look.

"How much did this cost?" Alaric asked, eyeing Elijah.

"Not nearly as much as you think it did. It is made of sterling silver, and the charms are all personalized, but the price was worth it to give Elena something that I hoped she would like." Elijah replied, his hand running up and down Elena's back.

"You're touching my daughter again." Alaric noted.

"Come on Ric, really?" Elena asked.

"I said I would give him a chance, and try to get to know him, that doesn't change the fact that I do not want to see him touch you." Alaric defended himself.

"Alaric, you and I are very much in the same boat on this feeling, as your ward is currently making out with my baby sister." Elijah commented, his gaze moving from where Alaric was holding Elena's wrist to examine the bracelet to the top of the stairs where Jeremy and Rebekah were making out.

Alaric let go of Elena's wrist as they both turned to look into the house. Elena rolled her eyes, even as she felt her heart break for Bonnie. Alaric, on the other hand, clenched his jaw and Elijah noticed the twitch in the other man's hand as he visibly stopped himself from making a fist.

"Rebekah, we are ready to leave. Please disentangle yourself from the young Mr. Gilbert and join Elena and I in the car." Elijah called.

"We're still going out for a family dinner tonight, right, Elena?" Alaric asked, his voice almost sounding desperate.

"Of course we are Ric. Elijah and I are just going to lunch with Rebekah and showing her around town. She, like Elijah, was born here." Elena replied, her hand coming up to his cheek. "She wants to see what her home town looks like now." She added while pulling her hand away from him.

"Elijah, would you excuse us for just a moment?" Alaric asked, taking Elena's hand and lightly leading her away from the Original without waiting for an answer.

"What's wrong now, Ric?" Elena asked as he led her around to the side of the porch.

"Do you love him?" Alaric asked.

"I don't know, Ric. It's only been a few days, it's too early for that." Elena replied.

"What about your feelings for Stefan?" He asked.

"While I still hope there's a chance for him to turn his humanity back on, what I had with him and Damon constantly fighting over me, and never feeling secure in my relationship with him after I found out about Katherine, I can't wait around for him. I've cut both him and Damon out of my life, Ric." she replied.

"While I will try to get to know Elijah, and try to give him a chance for you, I can't cut Damon out of my life. He's my best friend, Elena." Alaric commented.

"I'm not asking you to, Ric. But if you are going to have Damon over to hang out or whatever, I'll be over at Elijah's. Simple as that. So just give me a heads up if you make plans to hang out here, that's what I ask of you where Damon is concerned." Elena said. "But I need to go, Ric. I'll see you later." She said as she went to move away from him before he pulled her back.

"I love you, Elena, please remember that."

"I love you too, Ric. Thank you for giving Elijah a chance." She said reaching up and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

After that, Alaric watched Elena rejoin Elijah by the front door, where the Original gave her a puzzled look before they headed to the car, the female Original walking behind them. When he rejoined Jeremy by the door, Alaric let out a sigh.

"She doesn't see how deeply she's already fallen for him." Alaric mentioned.

"Even if she doesn't see it now, she will, and we have to be there for her. She of all people deserves to be happy with whomever makes her happiest. And that could very well be Elijah." Jeremy replied.

"I had hopes that if Stefan hadn't come back by now that she would have moved on to someone who wasn't a vampire."

"We don't always get what we want, man. If she's happy, then we need to let her be happy, not matter our own opinions on the situation."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"Elena, may I ask you a question?" Elijah asked.

"Of course." Elena said with a nod.

"How long has Alaric been in your life?"

"Um, since very early into my Junior year, so a little under a year. Why?"

"He's not telling you everything about how he feels." Rebekah commented.

"What are you talking about?" Elena asked.

"My sister is correct. I was listening to his heartbeat when he pulled you to the side. He does love you, Elena, just more than he is able to let on." Elijah replied.

"Ric wouldn't lie to me about that. He knows that I don't like being lied to about anything." Elena denied.

"When he told you that he wanted you to be with someone that wasn't a vampire, what he was saying was that he has fallen in love with you and had hoped that moving on from the Salvatore brothers would mean that you were moving on with him." Elijah explained.

"No... he wouldn't..." Elena trailed off as Elijah and Rebekah's words really set in and she looked back on Ric's words. "Well crap." She muttered.

"If you need help letting him down gently, let me know. I'll help." Rebekah offered.

"No, I'll confront him about it tonight at dinner." Elena said softly.

"If you would like me to be there, just let me know, darling."


	12. Chapter 12

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 12

 **Chapter 1, 7 & 8 Review Replies:**

 **Vampireicedragongirl2004XD** **:** I'm a bit confused by your review for chapter 1 but thank you for reviewing.

 **thnw32:** Thank you so much for your reviews. I'm glad that you are enjoying the story.

All throughout lunch and showing Rebekah around town, Elena was distracted. She was sure that if she hadn't been holding Elijah's hand that she would have still been at the restaurant, or even still in the car. She couldn't stop thinking about what Elijah and Rebekah had said as they left her house. She hadn't even noticed that Ric had been acting differently around her throughout the summer, and even looking back on the times that they were in the same room together, she still couldn't see him having acting like he was falling in love with her.

"Elena, darling, are you okay?" Elijah asked as he pulled her to a stop and held her face in his hands so that she was looking at him.

"Honestly? No, I'm not. Ric's behavior and his words today show that what you and Rebekah said in the car earlier is probably true, but I've been dwelling on every interaction he and I have had throughout the summer, and I can't tell if he was ever acting differently than usual to pinpoint when he might have started falling in love with me. And not being able to pinpoint that makes me question if it was before this summer, or if it was just a supercharged interaction today and that you and Rebekah might have read his increased heart rate wrong. That while he might have been hiding something from me, that it might not be that he's in love with me." Elena said with a defeated sigh.

"Do you want me to go with you tonight? I will gladly drop Rebekah off and accompany you." Elijah offered again.

"I just want my life to be simple. To fall in love and have the person that I love be the only one that's in love with me. Why can't I have that? With Stefan there was Damon, and now with you there's Alaric. I don't want my step-father to be in love with me. Because he's not just my step-father, Elijah, he's my history teacher as well. He could lose his job if he tried anything with me, even if I am an adult, and I don't want that to happen to him." Elena said as her eyes started filling with unshed tears. "I don't know what to do, Elijah." She added while wrapping her arms around him and starting to cry into his chest.

"I need you to say the words, Elena. I can't show up at dinner with you without you expressly asking me to be there." Elijah whispered as he held her close.

"Please come with me to dinner, Elijah. I don't think I can face him alone, even if Jeremy is going to be there." Elena said in a small voice.

"Of course, darling. Of course." Elijah replied whiling rubbing her back to calm her down.

That was how Rebekah found them a few minutes later. Elena crying into Elijah's chest, Elijah rubbing Elena's back and pressing his lips to the top of her head. Rebekah had to admit that they looked good together, and she stood by her comment to Elena that afternoon at the house: Elena was good for Elijah. But now she was mentally adding to it. Elijah was good for Elena as well. Walking over to the couple, Rebekah lightly cleared her throat, and they pulled away from each other slightly, but Elijah didn't let Elena leave his embrace. He needed her to know that he was there for her. But before any of them could say anything, Elena's phone beeped with a text message.

 **I'm not feeling well, 'Lena, so it'll just be you and Ric for dinner. – Jer**

Elena's face blanched when she read the text from her brother. Jeremy wasn't going to be at dinner? That wouldn't be a family dinner then.

 **We can reschedule. The point was for us to have dinner as a family for my birthday. – Lena**

 **Okay, let's reschedule for tomorrow night then. I'll let Ric know. – Jer**

Elena let out a sigh of relief at Jeremy's response before looking up at Elijah and showing him the conversation. As he handed her back her phone, Elijah leaned down and pressed a kiss to her temple before whispering that he would still go with her the following night if she still wished for him to do so. With another sigh of relief, Elena leaned into Elijah.

"Let's get something to take home for dinner. You've had a long day, my darling." Elijah suggested, glancing at Rebekah.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Jeremy looked up from his phone and leveled Alaric with a glare. He didn't like lying to Elena, and he knew that Alaric knew how much Elena being lied to, so he couldn't fathom why Alaric had just asked him to lie to Elena about not feeling well.

"She wants to move dinner to tomorrow night when we can all make it." Jeremy said. "Now tell me why you just had me lie to my sister."

"Damn it. I wanted to have dinner alone with Elena so that I could tell her how I feel, but of course she's going to want reschedule for tomorrow night." Alaric replied.

"Then why couldn't we just tell her the truth? Or better yet, you could have asked her to meet you alone for dinner on another night. We didn't have to lie to her." Jeremy argued.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out here. And clearly not thinking straight. What is it about Elena being with Elijah that makes me this worked up?" Alaric questioned.

"Is that rhetorical... or are you expecting an answer from me?" Jeremy countered.

"If you have an answer, it would be nice to have one."

"You always wanted a family, Ric, but after she gave Elena up, Isobel didn't want anymore kids. So when you started dating Jenna, and then took on the role of our guardian over the summer, you became attached to the idea of the 3 of us being a family. Elijah wasn't apart of that image, and frankly, neither were Damon or Stefan, so while your actions might being seen as you being _in love_ with Elena, you're really just anxious that Elijah is going to mess with the idea of the family that you have been envisioned us being all summer." Jeremy explained.

"How did you become so wise and intuitive?" Alaric asked, already feeling his mind settle at what Jeremy had just said.

"I learned from the best. Now call Elena and tell her that you had me lie and tell her why." Jeremy said.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Elena was already feeling better after her meltdown, but as she, Elijah and Rebekah reached the car after getting dinner to go, her phone started buzzing and when she saw who it was, the color drained from her face, and the feeling of dread settled down on her.

"What do you want, Ric?" Elena asked, her voice shaking as she quickly got into the car to sit down.

" **I need to apologize to you, Elena.** " Alaric replied, she could tell that he was anxious about something.

"Apologize for what? Being an ass in general, or being an ass that lied to my face today?" She questioned.

" **Both. And for asking Jeremy to lie to you about not feeling well.** " Alaric said.

"You WHAT!?" Elena exclaimed.

" **Elena, please listen to me. Okay, yes, I lied to you today. And I asked Jeremy to lie to you about not feeling well, but I wanted to have dinner alone with you to tell you how I thought I was feeling. Elena, I know that my actions today were way out of line, and I'm sure Elijah and Rebekah picked up on my accelerated heartbeat, but I swear to you, it wasn't because I was hiding that I'm in love with you. Which, for the record, I thought I was when I saw you today. But Jeremy just made me realize what it was. I've always wanted a family Elena, and Isobel denied me that, and even kept the fact that she had had a child before we got married from me. So when I got the chance to be a father, or at least a father figure, to you and Jeremy, I let the idea of us being a family overpower my logical though process. I do love you like a daughter, Elena, I do, because to me, you are my daughter. You are the closest thing that I have to a daughter, and I royally screwed that up today. And I'm sorry.** " Alaric said, rushing most of it in fear that Elena would hang up on him.

"So let me get this straight. You basically romanticized our idea of you, me and Jeremy being a family, and when you couldn't handle seeing me a guy, you thought it was because you were in love with me?" Elena summarized.

" **Yes. It was stupid, and selfish of me, and I will do everything I can to make it up to you, Elena. If you'll let me.** " Alaric replied.

"Do you have any idea what you put me through this afternoon? I had an emotional break down today because I thought that I would have to break your heart over you being in love with me. And furthermore, you know that I hate being lied to, and yet not only did you lie to me, but you asked Jeremy to lie to me on your behalf." Elena said, hot tears stinging her eyes.

" **Elena... I'm so extremely sorry. I was an ass, and you have every right to hate me for it.** " Alaric said.

"Put Jeremy on. I want to talk to him." She insisted.

" **I didn't want to lie to you, Elena.** " Jeremy said.

"I need you to leave whatever room you and Ric are standing in and go up to your room." Elena instructed.

" **Sure, of course I can do that.** " Jeremy replied.

"Are you in your room?" Elena asked after a few moments of silence.

" **Yes. What do you need from me?** " He asked.

"I need you to pack some more of my clothes into a bag and I'm going to text you Elijah's address so that you can bring them to me. I'll forgive Ric eventually, but, in the meantime, I'll be staying at Elijah's apartment. There's still a few more weeks before school starts, and I'll take that time to forgive him for what he did before having to see him on a daily basis." Elena explained.

" **You're not mad at me, are you?** " Jeremy questioned.

"No, Jer, I'm not mad at you. But please just get some of my clothes, and my stuff from the bathroom, and bring them to me." Elena requested.

" **Of course. I'll bring them over as soon as I can. I take it since you asked me to leave the room, you don't want Ric knowing what's happening?** "

"Not right away. Or, at least not before you leave to bring the stuff over. Once you get back to the house, and he inevitably asks you where you went, you can tell him at that point."

" **I'll see you soon, Elena.** "

"See you soon, Jer."

Once the conversation ended, Elena sent a text with Elijah's address to Jeremy before hitting her head against the back of the seat. And up until Rebekah cleared her throat, Elena had forgotten that she wasn't alone, and took notice of the fact that both Original siblings were staring at her. Elijah with corner filling his eyes, and Rebekah with expectance on the retelling of the conversation, even though Elena knew that they had both heard everything that Alaric and Jeremy had said, clear as if they were with them.

"Are you going to be okay my darling?" Elijah asked.

"I'll be fine... eventually. You guys were mostly right." Elena replied before scooting over and snuggling into Elijah's side.

"I was trying not to listen to the conversation, so what did step-daddy have to say?" Rebekah asked.

"He snapped. Or at least, something in him snapped. He had idealized the family that he had always wanted when he became acting guardian to me and Jeremy at the beginning of the summer. And since Elijah didn't fit into the picture he had in his head of who his family was, he snapped, and because of that, he thought that he was in love with me, and so he lied about it." Elena explained.

"That is the most twisted, messed up thing... and our father beat Niklaus just for not being his son." Rebekah commented.

"Really, Rebekah, is now the time to be talking about what Father did to Niklaus?" Elijah asked.

"Probably not, but oh well, it's out there now." Rebekah said with a shrug.

"It's fine, Elijah. Let's just go home, eat dinner and call it a day." Elena said.

"I like the sound of that." Elijah commented with a smile.

"Like the sound of what?" Elena and Rebekah asked together.

"Of you calling my apartment, home." He replied.

"Right now, it feels more like my home than my house does. And you've heard the saying, right? 'Home is Where the Heart Is'."

"That I have, darling."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Jeremy wasn't sure what clothes to pack for Elena, so he mostly just opened her drawers to find her summer clothes and threw those into the duffle bag he had grabbed from his closet. And he only hesitated slightly when he went into her underwear drawer. _'A brother should definitely NOT being going through his sister's underwear drawer.'_ He thought to himself before just grabbing a handful of stuff and throwing it into the duffle as well. _'It's for Elena. She asked me to get some clothes together for her, so it's not that big of a deal.'_ His thoughts reminded him. It wasn't like he was snooping, he was just doing what Elena has asked him to do.

Once the duffle was full, Jeremy walked back through his and Elena's joint bathroom to his own room and left through his door. If Elena didn't want Alaric to know just yet what she had asked her brother to do, no way was Jeremy going to exit into the hallway from Elena's bedroom door. Acting as nonchalant as he could, Jeremy headed downstairs, letting Alaric know over the sounds of the TV that he was going out for a bit and that he would be back later. When he wasn't interrogated on where exactly he was going, Jeremy slipped outside and hurried to Elena's car, his key to the car firmly in his hand.

Putting the address that Elena sent him into the GPS, Jeremy pulled out of the driveway and started to head towards the other side of town. As he drove, Jeremy drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, wondering why he was nervous about bringing his sister some clothes while she was staying at her boyfriend's apartment so to avoid her step-father. Shaking his head and laughing a little at himself, Jeremy relaxed. He had no reason to be nervous. But the sheer absurdity of the fact that not only was Elena technically his cousin, but her biological mother's ex-husband would end up being their history teacher and then start dating their aunt was hysterical.

Pulling up to the curb, Jeremy put the car in park and grabbed the duffle bag. Getting out of the car, he looked up at the building in awe. It was definitely one of the nicer apartment buildings in Mystic Falls, and when he really thought about it, it made sense that someone like Elijah would live here. Making his way inside, Jeremy found the apartment easily. It seemed as though each apartment was set up as more of a townhouse, given that the staircase was extremely tall. Double checking the apartment number against the text that Elena had sent him, the younger Gilbert reached up to knock, stepping back when the door swung open and he was met with Elijah staring him down.

"Dude, I come in peace. Elena asked me to bring her some stuff." Jeremy said, holding his hands up to show that he wasn't armed.

"Please forgive me, Jeremy. Over the past few days, the only other times we've had someone knocking on the front door was when it was the elder Mr. Salvatore." Elijah said, relaxing and stepping aside. "Come in." He added.

"Thank you. It's a nice place you've got here." Jeremy commented while glancing around.

"It's merely a place to keep Elena safe." Elijah replied modestly.

"Between you and me, and maybe Rebekah if she's listening... we both know that it's more than just a place to keep Elena safe. I saw the way you were looking at her the other night and this morning." Jeremy said, lowering his voice. "And, uh, I would like to apologize for my accusations the other night. I was out of line." He said.

"Apology accepted, Jeremy. Please join us in the living room." Elijah said clapping a hand on Jeremy's shoulder and steering him towards the living room where Elena was sitting.

"Where's Rebekah?" Jeremy asked.

"In her own apartment down the hall. I've only known her for a day, so I haven't invited her in yet, and she's fine with that. It gives her time to visualize how she wants to decorate." Elena replied. "How did Ric react when you left to come over here?" She asked.

"Honestly, he looked like a hurt puppy, drowning his self-pity in bourbon while the TV played some stupid show. I really don't think he even heard me say that I was going out for a bit." Jeremy admitted.

"I hurt him." Elena mumbled and before Jeremy could even move to his sister's side, Elijah was there, pulling her into his lap.

"You reacted accordingly, my darling Elena. He lied to you, you have a right to be upset and to have said what you said to him." Elijah commented.

"He'll get over it, 'Lena." Jeremy agreed.

"Thank you for bringing some more clothes for me, Jer." Elena said peeking out from Elijah's chest.

"Of course. But it looks like Elijah's got it covered here with making you feel better, so I'll leave you to it, and I'll stop by and say 'hi' to Rebekah before I head home." Jeremy said with a smirk.

"Jeremy..." Elena said warningly.

"Come on, 'Lena. You can get together with an Original, and I can't?" Jeremy asked. "That's not fair, sis."

"I believe what your sister is warning you against is that Rebekah was just recently un-daggered by Niklaus, and the last thing she remembered from before she was daggered was that she had been with Stefan. So take things slow and show her that you care." Elijah explained.

"He just... dude, you just gave me the most lowkey 'don't-hurt-my-baby-sister' speech of all time." Jeremy said, a look of awe on his face before leaving Elena and Elijah alone.

"He does know that I don't have to give him that speech because Rebekah is more than capable of taking care of herself, right?" Elijah asked.

"I'm honestly not sure."


	13. Chapter 13

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 13

 **Chapter 12 Review Replies:**

 **thnw32:** I've actually read a few stories where Rebekah is paired with Jeremy, but it's literally like 1 or 2, so I thought I would throw it in and see how it goes. I'm so glad that you like the story. It's the most frequent I've updated a story, because I've had the idea of how I want everything to go kind of mapped out in my head, and I don't want to lose that roadmap.

The next few weeks inched by. Elena enjoyed the fact that the end of Summer was dragging for a few reasons. The first reason was that she didn't want to give up seeing Elijah all day, every day. The second reason was that she would have to trade seeing her boyfriend for seeing her step-father every day at school, and she was dreading that swap. It wasn't a fun one. Especially since she hadn't talked to, or seen, Alaric in person since the day he lied to her. She had been staying with Elijah, as she had told Jeremy she would be, and her brother had ended up being the go between for Elena and Alaric.

In the few weeks leading to the end of Summer/beginning of school, Elena and Rebekah had grown closer, but Bonnie and Caroline had seemed to now be avoiding Elena, even when she would reach out to see how they were doing and invite them to hang out with her and Rebekah. They had either been replying with the fact that they were busy with "stuff" or they just wouldn't respond to her texts or calls in general. It was only when the weekend before school was supposed to start that Elena found out why her best friends had been avoiding her. Bonnie had been avoiding her because she had been hooking up with Damon, which had caused her relationship with Jeremy to end. Whereas Caroline was another story all together.

And it was the reason that Caroline had been avoiding her that pissed Elena off the most. Stefan had returned to Mystic Falls, sans Klaus, it appeared, and had convinced Caroline to go with him to see Klaus. When Caroline reappeared a couple days after that, Stefan and Klaus were both in tow, and Caroline was sticking to Klaus' side. And then when Elijah and Rebekah let Elena know that she had been compelled by their brother, Elena wanted to go and punch the hybrid in his stupid face for turning her best friend away from her. But the rage was quickly replaced with confusion when her boyfriend and friend mentioned a ball that was being held at Klaus' mansion. Apparently it was a family affair, so Elijah and Rebekah were both expected to be there.

"I don't have a dress that is 'ball worthy'." Elena said when Elijah asked if she would accompany him as his date.

"We have plenty of time. Rebekah will need a new dress as well. The two of you can go shopping together, my treat." Elijah offered.

"Um, Elijah, Elena, there's a 3rd invitation here... and it's addressed to Elena." Rebekah called as she joined them in the living room of Elijah's apartment, having been invited in by Elena when Bonnie and Caroline had started avoiding her.

"Who sent the invitations?" Elena asked, looking between the siblings.

"Mother." Elijah replied glancing at the invitation.

"Why would your mother send me my own invitation and send it here...?" Elena questioned as she took the envelope that Rebekah handed her and opened it. "Never mind... she wants to meet with me." She muttered.

"Out of the question." Elijah said sharply.

"How do we know that Mother doesn't want to apologize for trying to have Elena killed for Nik's stupid ritual?" Rebekah asked.

"I will not allow my girlfriend to meet with our mother. I do not trust her motivations for this ball, Sister. And while the number of people that I trust with Elena's life can be counted on 1 hand at the moment, Mother is not on that list. And if I know Mother, she will insist on seeing Elena alone, and I will not take the chance at losing her." Elijah said.

"Even if she does insist on seeing me alone, come with me." Elena suggested.

"I also know Finn. He will ensure that Mother's wishes are carried out exactly as she wants them to be." Elijah said with a frown.

"Don't you think that you are being just a little bit paranoid, Brother?" Rebekah asked.

"After what transpired last night, with Mother so easily forgiving Niklaus, even after he killed her, I'm questioning her intentions. I do not want to risk Elena's safety with Mother or even Finn." Elijah replied.

"What if you escort me to wherever she's wanting to meet with me, and you wait outside?" Elena suggested.

"That sounds like the best option." Rebekah agreed.

"We shall see how things go." Elijah tentatively agreed. "Now you two need to go find new dresses." He said before handing his credit card to Elena. "Let me know the color of your dress, darling, and I'll find a handkerchief that matches." He finished pulling her in for a deep kiss.

"Yes, yes, everyone in town knows that you're head over heels for this girl. Dress shopping is very time consuming, and so it doing our hair and make-up. So get your tongue out of Elena's mouth, Elijah, and let us go shopping." Rebekah groaned. She didn't think she would ever be used to seeing her brother and friend together.

"The fact that after being around us for a few weeks now, and you have yet to build up a tolerance to this just means that Elijah and I need to try harder." Elena said with a smirk.

"No, it doesn't. It means that you two should really keep it in the bedroom. Away from the eyes of anyone related to either of you. The total number of times that Jeremy or I have walked in on the two of you making out in the past few weeks is so high that we've lost count." Rebekah commented.

"Go, I shall see you tonight at the ball." Elijah said with one last kiss.

As he watched his girlfriend and sister leave the apartment, Elijah contemplated what he was going to do about his mother. He couldn't tell if Esther knew that he and Elena were together or not, but either way, he did not trust his mother's intentions. While it was still early on in their relationship, 3 weeks wasn't long, especially to an immortal, he had come so close to telling Elena that he loved her a few times now, and he had a feeling that she had been just as close a couple of times herself, but neither had said it yet. Elijah wanted a chance to say it before whatever his mother had planned.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"Have you told him yet?" Rebekah asked once she and Elena got to the first dress shop.

"You're seriously asking me if I've told your brother that I love him... now?" Elena questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I am. Just because I don't like seeing you and Elijah making out doesn't mean that I don't want to know the more innocent details of your relationship. Declarations of love fall under the innocent details category. So... have you?" Rebekah explained.

"No, I haven't. We haven't even been together for a full month yet. Isn't it still a bit too early to say something like that?" Elena asked as she pulled a silver sequined dress off the rack and held it up for Rebekah to see. "Yes or no to this one?" She questioned.

"Definitely not. That's more of a school dance dress, or a party dress, than a dress fit for a ball. Especially a ball held by my family." Rebekah said with a scowl.

Elena walked around the shop for a few minutes, a frown deepening as she went. Nothing seemed appropriate. At least nothing that called out to her. Glancing over at Rebekah, Elena saw that her friend seemed to have found a dress. Walking over to the blonde, Elena smiled.

"That's beautiful, Bekah." She commented as Rebekah admired the green dress in the full length mirror.

"Really?" Rebekah asked.

"Absolutely. You'll look amazing in it. And more so, you'll look great wearing it with Jeremy by your side. You are going to ask him to escort you to the ball, right?" Elena questioned.

"Bloody hell... that slipped my mind. Here, hold this really quick." Rebekah said handing the dress to Elena while she pulled her phone out and sent a text to Jeremy.

 **My family is throwing a ball tonight, and I was wondering if you would like to be my date? – Bekah**

 **Of course. I'll take any time I can get to be in your presence. – Jer**

 **I'll see you tonight night then. If you have a tux, wear it. If not, a suit will be fine. – Bekah**

 **What time? – Jer**

 **7 o'clock. Elena is going as well, so since Elijah and I will have to be at Klaus' mansion before the ball starts, I'll make sure she comes to get you. – Bekah**

 **See you tonight Bekah. – Jer**

Rebekah bowed her head as she smiled, trying to hide the smile from Elena, but the brunette caught it and grinned. Whereas she and Elijah were dating, Rebekah and Jeremy were getting to know each other as friends, but Elena could tell that her friend was smitten with her younger brother. And from the times that Jeremy had joined them for dinner, or to play board games, which they did quite often, Elena could tell that he was smitten with Rebekah as well. She was happy for both of them.

"So... he agreed?" Elena said while handing the dress back to Rebekah so that the blonde could buy it and they could head to the next store to try and find a dress for herself.

"He did. You'll need to pick him up though. Or Elijah might have a car for the two of you. He and I will have to be at the mansion before the ball." Rebekah said, handing the clerk Elijah's credit card.

"Excuse me, Miss, but I need to see an ID with the credit card." The clerk said, and Elena frowned.

"I should have thought of that. Give us a few minutes to call my brother. It's his card." Rebekah said with a smile as she turned to Elena who had already pulled her phone out to call Elijah.

" **Is everything okay, darling?** " Elijah asked.

"Yes and no. The clerk won't let Rebekah use your credit card without your ID." Elena replied.

" **I see. And will the surprise be ruined on what your dress looks like if I come down?** " He asked.

"Not yet. I haven't found the right dress yet." She said.

" **I'll be there shortly.** "

"He's on his way." Elena said once she slipped her phone into her purse.

"Would you like me to hold the dress back here?" The clerk asked.

"Yes please. We'll continue looking around for my friend while we wait." Rebekah said taking Elena's arm and pulling her to a part of the store that was as far away from the clerk as possible.

"Why didn't you just compel him?" Elena asked in a low voice.

"I didn't feel like it. Besides, unless Elijah was extremely busy doing something else, I knew that he wouldn't mind coming down here." Rebekah replied.

"You're trying to be a better person for Jeremy, aren't you?" Elena inquired, her eyes going wide.

"Meeting him made me want to be a better person, yes. I've relied on the perks of being a vampire for over 1000 years by compelling people to get what I want. I don't want to do that anymore." Rebekah replied.

"Elena?"

Both the blonde and the brunette turned at the sound of Elena's name. Elena wasn't sure how to react to seeing Bonnie standing there, especially after the last few weeks of her friend ignoring and avoiding her.

"Hey Bonnie. How have you been?" Elena said once she recovered.

"I've been okay." Bonnie replied nervously. "What are you two doing here?" She asked.

"Shopping for ball gowns." Elena replied. "The Mikaelson's are throwing a ball tonight. We're just waiting on Elijah to get here so that Rebekah can get her dress." She explained.

"Why not just compel the clerk? That's what you usually do, isn't it?" Bonnie asked.

"Not that it's really any of your business, but I didn't feel like it." Rebekah snapped.

"Calm yourself, Sister." Elijah said as he walked into the dress shop.

"She's being mean to me, Brother." Rebekah said with a huff.

"I'm sure Miss Bennett didn't mean to offend." Elijah replied walking over to the counter. "I was told that you needed my ID so that my sister could pay for her dress." He said pulling his wallet out.

"What has gotten into you Bonnie? You lied to me about your relationship with Jeremy. You've been avoiding me for the past few weeks because you were hooking up with Damon behind not only my back, but Jeremy's as well. This isn't you, Bon." Elena said.

"How would you know that, Elena? You've been so preoccupied with your relationships that you no longer pay attention to your best friends." Bonnie said, and Elena felt the sting of tears in her eyes.

"That's not true, Bonnie." Elena said.

"Isn't it? You've been so hung up on getting Stefan back, and then screwing around with an Original, that you didn't even notice that Jeremy and I broke up a long time ago. Even when you were around Damon trying to find Stefan, you didn't notice he and I had gotten together. You let your relationships consume your life." Bonnie said.

"Here you go, Sister. Your dress for tonight." Elijah said as he handed the dress to Rebekah in dress bag and took Elena's hand in his before leveling Bonnie with his gaze.

"Miss Bennett, I'm afraid I have to disagree on what you are accusing Elena of. At least to a degree. In the past few weeks, Elena has repeatedly reached out to you and Miss Forbes, wanting to hang out with the two of you, even inviting the two of you to come over for dinner with us and my sister, and the two of you either told her you were busy, or didn't respond at all. So, if anyone here has been letting a relationship consume her life, it wouldn't be Elena. It would be you. Miss Forbes is a different story, as my brother has her compelled to a point that I cannot break. But I would appreciate you not accusing Elena of being a bad friend when you have been the one that has been ignoring and avoiding her." Elijah said before ushering Elena and Rebekah out of the shop.

"Is Damon compelling her?" Elena asked in a small voice.

"I do not know. It's unknown if a vampire can compel a witch of Miss Bennett's caliber." Elijah replied.

"She had some nerve, though. If she isn't being compelled." Rebekah commented.

"Compulsion is the only thing that would make any sense as to why Bonnie would lie to me about her relationship with Jeremy and then tell me I was being a bad friend." Elena said bitterly.

"Everything that just transpired aside, I took the liberty of getting a car service to take the two of you around shopping that will also take Elena and Jeremy to the ball tonight." Elijah said, turning his attention solely on Elena. "You know that what Miss Bennett said isn't true. And if it continues to bother you after tonight, we will figure it out together. I just want to spend an evening with my beautiful girlfriend." He said before pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Promise me that no matter what is meant to happen tonight, we never leave each other's side." Elena said.

"I promise, my dear, sweet, darling Elena. I will be with you all night." Elijah replied.

"Hey, Elena... come here! I think I found the perfect dress for you!" Rebekah said excitedly from a few shops down.

"Be there in a minute, Bekah!" Elena called back before leaning up and pressing her lips to Elijah's in a deep kiss and then pulling away to walk over to where Rebekah was bouncing in excitement.

"'Lijah, go in and let the clerk know that you'll be paying for the dress, but that you are meant to be surprised by which one it is." Rebekah instructed.

"Guide me to the front of the shop so that I can't see which dress my sister is determined to have you wearing tonight?" Elijah requested to Elena with a smirk.

"Of course." Elena said with a laugh as she took one of Elijah's hands in her own while his other hand went up to cover his eyes dramatically.

As Elena and Elijah passed the window, Rebekah pointed out the dress to Elena, and her eyes lit up. It really was perfect. Once inside, Elena brought Elijah to the counter where a girl, maybe a year or two older than Elena stood, giving the couple an odd look.

"Hi." Elena said brightly. "My boyfriend here is wanting to pay for a dress for me, but he isn't allowed to see which dress it is until tonight, so we were hoping that if he came in and showed you his ID to go with the credit card that will be used to purchase the dress, that that would be sufficient." She explained as Elijah lowered his hand and gave the clerk a smile.

"Sure. As long as the security cameras show me looking at the ID to check the name and face to the person and the card, then that'll be fine." The clerk said, coming to the quick realization that the couple before her was not nearly as weird as she had initially thought.

"Thank you so much." Elena replied as Elijah showed his ID and his credit card.

After that was taken care of, Elijah reclosed his eyes and Elena led him back outside and to his car.

"I'll see you tonight, my darling." Elijah said with a kiss.

"See you tonight." Elena responded.

As she watched him drive away, Elena felt Rebekah's presence come up next to her. Glancing at her friend, Elena smiled. Elijah was going to be knocked off his feet when he saw her at the ball.

"When he sees you in the dress, Elijah will be rendered speechless, and won't be able to take his eyes off of you." Rebekah commented.

"Let's get the dress so that we can go home and start getting ready." Elena agreed.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Damon watched from across the street as Elena interacted with Elijah and Rebekah. He hated the Original Family and hated it even more that they had taken Elena away from him and Stefan. As Bonnie joined him, Damon looked down at her.

"What did you find out?" He asked.

"The Mikaelson Family is throwing a ball at Klaus' mansion tonight. Elena is going to be there, but she's going as Elijah's date. They are really hitting it off Damon. I don't think me pretending to hate her and calling her a bad friend is going to make her feel guilty enough to leave him. And even if it did, I doubt she would go back to you or Stefan." Bonnie replied.

"They think I've compelled you." Damon commented.

"Even if you tried, you wouldn't be able to. My magic is too strong." Bonnie responded. "Although I'm still curious as to why I agreed to help you at all. We don't like each other. And we especially don't like each other enough to sleep together." She added.

"Because you're worried about Elena just as much as I am, and you want to get her away from them." He said.

"I swear, Damon. If I really lose my best friend because of you, I will make you suffer." Bonnie growled before walking away.

"I love it when you're feisty, BonBon. It's sexy." Damon said with a smirk.

"Screw you, Salvatore." Bonnie replied.

"I thought you just said we didn't like each other enough to do that." He taunted.

Bonnie growled again and spun around to face Damon. Lifting her hand, she called upon the spirits and she brought Damon to his knees while clutching his head.

"Okay, fine! I'm sorry. Just stop it Bonnie." Damon groaned through the pain.

And with that, the pain, and Bonnie, were both gone, leaving Damon to vaguely wonder just when exactly his life had gotten this screwed up.


	14. Chapter 14

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 14

 **Chapter 11 Review Replies:**

 **TVD-DELENA1786:** When I first had the idea to start writing this story, I was originally going to have it be an Elena/Alaric story, but decided to switch it to Elena/Elijah, given the chemistry between them (and the many complicated layers of a relationship Elena and Alaric already have didn't need an extra layer added on), but I still wanted to have something of a hiccup in Elena and Alaric's friendship to happen in the story.

Elena was ecstatic when the dress fit her perfectly. And Rebekah had been right that Elijah was going to speechless when he saw her. After they bought the dress, Rebekah dragged Elena to the car but before they could get in, Stefan turned the corner and saw them, causing all three to freeze. Elena wanted to offer Stefan a friendly smile but had no idea if he had his humanity back on or not, so she didn't. Rebekah wanted to go over and slap Stefan for giving her necklace to another girl but realized that she didn't care enough about him to do so, so she didn't. Stefan wanted to apologize over and over and over again, to both of them, for how he acted, but without his humanity fully back, the urge was quickly pushed down, and he instead resumed walking and walked right past both girls without saying a single word to either of them, and not sparing either of them another look.

"Well, that was intense." Rebekah commented, trying to lighten the mood.

"Is it weird that, seeing Stefan again just makes me appreciate what I have going with Elijah even more?" Elena asked.

"Not at all. Stefan wasn't right for you, and he was just using you as a replacement for Katherine." Rebekah replied.

"Let's go home." Elena said with a nod at Rebekah's answer.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

After rounding the next corner, Stefan turned to watch Elena and Rebekah. He had not expected them to get along, let alone be friends of any kind. But the proof of just how wrong he had been was right in front of him. Two of his ex-girlfriends were getting along, and where most guys would be worried about that, Stefan didn't feel anything either way about it.

"Were you able to get a look at Elena's dress?"

"No, Katherine, I wasn't. It's in a dress bag. I have no way of getting you inside the ball tonight to get you to Elijah." Stefan replied, his eyes not leaving the car that pulled away with Rebekah and Elena in it.

"We still have some time. Elena said they were going home. I doubt it's her house. She hasn't been back there in 3 weeks. Something went down between her and sexy step-daddy dearest. So it's gotta be wherever Elijah and Rebekah are living. And if they are the only ones that are full on living there, then we can get in." Katherine said, her voice carrying a tone of boredom.

"We won't be able to. Elena's name is on the lease. She's only invited Elijah, Rebekah and Caroline in. And with Klaus having Caroline under compulsion, and Caroline having been avoiding Elena because of it for the past few weeks, Elena would be wary of Caroline suddenly showing up. And she's not about to invite either of us in." Stefan replied, turning to face his first love.

"There has to be _something_ that we can do to get ahold of that dress so that I can get close to Elijah." Kathrine said.

"Do you really think that after being as close to Elena has he has been for the past few weeks that he wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two of you? Not to mention the fact that Elena is still human. Even if you were able to fool him by acting like her, your scent as a vampire is vastly different than hers a human. And I'm pretty confidant that he has become well versed in what Elena smells like." Stefan argued.

"Then what do you suggest?" Katherine asked.

"We follow them. Maybe Rebekah lives in a different apartment than Elena and Elijah do. And if she didn't do the same thing that Elijah did by putting Elena's name on the lease, then we would be able to get in to her apartment." Stefan replied.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Katherine asked before they both took off in the same direction the car had gone.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

As the car came to a stop in front of the apartment, and both girls grabbed their dresses, Elena pulled her phone out as well. Seeing a text from Elijah, she smiled.

 **I know you and Rebekah need to get ready, but I couldn't wait until tonight to see you again. Please come to the apartment. – Elijah**

 **Are you trying to catch a glimpse of my dress before the ball, Mr. Mikaelson? – Elena**

 **Absolutely not. Just wanting a glimpse of my girlfriend before she gets all dolled up for the ball. – Elijah**

 **We just pulled up to the apartment, so I'll be there in a few minutes. – Elena**

Dropping her phone back into her purse, she took her dress bag from Rebekah with a smile.

"Your brother wants to see me before I start getting ready for the ball." Elena explained.

"Then shouldn't I take your dress to my apartment?" Rebekah asked.

"No, it's okay. The bag isn't transparent, so he won't be able to see it anyway. It'll still be a surprise for him later tonight." Elena replied.

"Okay, see you in a little bit." Rebekah said.

As Elena walked into the building, she couldn't stop smiling. She was ready to tell Elijah how she felt, and she had a feeling that him wanting to do the same was the reason behind asking her to meet him at the apartment. When she opened the door and stepped inside, Elijah was standing there, waiting for her with a smile.

"Well, well, you look quite handsome standing shirtless in a pair of dress pants." Elena commented as she put the dress bag on a hook by the door.

"I can't finished getting dressed until you inform me of the color of your dress. I want there to be no mistake on who I'm with tonight." Elijah replied.

"Black and gold." Elena said simply.

"I can work with that."

"And if I had gotten a dress that was a color you didn't possess a handkerchief in?"

"I would have gone with the traditional white." Elijah said as he pulled her into his arms. "My dear, sweet, darling Elena, I have no further idea of what my mother has planned for tonight as I did this morning. But no matter what happens, I want you to something." He said.

"Elijah, what's going on?" Elena asked.

"Elena Gilbert, the last three weeks with you have been some of the best three weeks of my life, and while we both know that I've felt this way from the beginning days of our relationship, I cannot keep from saying it any longer. I am madly, deeply, truly in love with you, Elena. I was intrigued by you from the moment I saw you, and I wanted to declare my feelings for you right then and there, but you were with Stefan, and I didn't want to further complicate your life any more than it already had been." Elijah said.

"How the hell am I supposed to top all of that, Elijah? I didn't prepare a speech." Elena said with a pout.

"What are you saying, Elena?" Elijah asked.

"I'm saying that I love you too, but that I feel like it's inadequate to everything that you just said. Like, just repeating the words to you isn't enough." Elena said.

"It's not a contest, Elena. I'm just happy to hear that you love me as much as I love you."

"I know. But I'm not the kind of girl that takes more than what she can return. And I don't have as much of a declaration as you do."

"I don't need a long declaration, Elena. I just need you."

"I have something to tell you too."

"I think we already covered the important part, darling."

"Well, it's in addition to that."

"Okay, what else do you need to tell me?"

"Rebekah and I saw Stefan today, and seeing him made me realize that my heart is one hundred percent yours. I am so hopelessly in love with you, Elijah Mikaelson, that I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you."

Elijah pulled Elena in even closer to his body than he already was holding her. Hearing her say that he held her entire heart was the best thing that he had ever heard, and he never wanted to let her go. Pressing his lips to hers, Elijah tried to convey everything he was feeling into the kiss, and Elena happily gave him everything in return. Only when she was starting to feel lightheaded from the lack of air did Elena pull back reluctantly.

"As much as I want to blow off this ball and stay home and make love to you all night, that'll have to wait until we are back here later tonight." Elijah commented with a frown.

"Once you see me in my dress, you might not be able to wait until we get home." Elena replied with a wink.

"Minx." He whispered seductively into her ear.

"Only for you." She whispered back before lightly nibbling his ear lobe and then quickly pulling away from his embrace. "You should get going. You and Rebekah need to be the mansion before everyone else, right?" She asked as she grabbed her dress from the hook and moved towards the stairs.

"We're supposed to, yes." Elijah said despite taking a step to follow Elena.

"My dress is supposed to be a surprise, Elijah. At the ball. You know, like a Cinderella moment. And Rebekah will be really upset if you see it before then." Elena said.

"She's my baby sister, she can't do anything to me. Besides, I'm really good at acting surprised." Elijah said with a wink.

"Any other time I would be all for you helping me change, but not tonight, okay? I really want the first time you see me in my dress to be at the ball." Elena replied with wide eyes and a hopeful look.

"Okay. I'll admit defeat. But I do need to come upstairs. There's something that I forgot to grab." Elijah said.

"This better not be a trick, Mr. Mikaelson." Elena commented.

"I give you my word, Miss Gilbert, it is not a trick." Elijah responded with a smile. "It's a present for you."

"Another present?" Elena asked.

"Well, usually I would be opposed to telling you what the present is, but in this case, it's about your charm bracelet, and specifically, the charm with my name on it." Elijah commented as he joined Elena on the stairs and placed his hand on her lower back.

"It's finally done?" She asked, her face lighting up with joy.

"It is. I picked it up this afternoon. I was actually at the jewelry store when you called to ask me to come pay for Rebekah's dress." He explained.

"Finally. 3 weeks seems like way too long to get 'boyfriend' engraved onto one side." Elena grumbled.

Once they reached the bedroom, Elijah took the dress bag from Elena's hand to hang it on the back of the closet door and then led Elena to the bed. Grabbing the small velvet box from the bedside table, Elijah knelt down and took Elena's hand in his.

"Elena Gilbert, would you do me the honor of accepting these charms for your charm bracelet?" Elijah said with a smirk as he opened the box to reveal not just the charm with his name, but also a charm with Rebekah's name on it.

"That's why it took 3 weeks, isn't it? Because you were having a charm made for Rebekah, and you picked them up together." Elena commented.

"It is." Elijah replied with a nod. "So... may I add them?" He asked.

"Right, sorry. Of course." She replied.

"I'm sure Rebekah will be thrilled once you tell her about the charm." He commented.

"We can tell her tomorrow. Let's get through tonight first. We still don't know why your mother wants to meet with me." Elena said. _'I really hope it isn't to tell me that I'm not good enough for Elijah.'_ She thought to herself.

"I promised you that I would be by your side all night. I plan on keeping that promise. I have yet to break a promise to you since we've been together, I don't plan on starting now." Elijah replied, standing up slightly to give her a kiss.

"I never get tired of your kisses." Elena murmured.

"Nor do I. And nor do I get tired of being in your presence. Your scent has enveloped me these last few weeks, and I long to have it back when we're apart." Elijah admitted.

"Coming from most guys, that would be extremely creepy and borderline stalkerish. Coming from you, it's mostly sweet." Elena said.

"Then I shall do my best to not make similar comments in the future. We don't want anyone to overhear and get the wrong idea." Elijah said.

"Sounds like a plan. Now you need to go so that I can get ready. There's only a few hours before the ball starts, and I have to get dressed and do my hair and make-up." Elena said giving Elijah a quick kiss before lightly pushing him towards the door.

"See you soon, my darling."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

In the following hours, Elijah and Elena were both freaking out. But while Elijah had Rebekah to tell him to calm down, Elena didn't have anyone with her to calm her down. She hadn't wanted to let on to Elijah that she was just as nervous and worried about why his mother wanted to meet with her as he was, because Elijah was already stressing it enough for both of them, that if she had let on that it worried her, they both probably would have backed out of going to the ball altogether, damning the consequences. As 6:30 quickly approached, Elena sent a text to Jeremy to see if he was ready and to let him know that she was on her way.

Once the driver that Elijah had hired for the evening pulled up in front of the Gilbert house, and Elena saw Jeremy standing on the porch, waiting for her, she let out the first breath of relief since before Elijah had left to head to the mansion to finish getting ready with his family. Elena knew that Jeremy would be able to help calm her nerves. As Jeremy slid into the back seat next to her, Elena grinned at him.

"I'm sorry, we must have the wrong house. I'm here to pick up my baby brother." Elena joked.

"You're one to talk. You look amazing Elena. Elijah is going to be speechless." Jeremy said with a smile of his own.

"That's the plan. But I am extremely nervous." Elena replied.

"About what? Making it officially known to half the town that you and Elijah are together? Or making it known to the rest of his family who he's fallen in love with?" Jeremy asked.

"How did...?"

"I'm not blind, Elena. All the nights were you, me, Elijah and Bekah had dinner and played games, his eyes showed his true feelings for you. Even when he was talking to me or Bekah, he rarely ever actually looked at us when he was talking. He couldn't take his eyes off of you. And he always made sure that he was touching you in some way. If he wasn't in love with you while acting like that, then we would have an issue." Jeremy said.

"He told me this afternoon." Elena admitted.

"And did you reciprocate?"

"I did. Jer, I've never felt this way before. Not with Matt, definitely not with Stefan. And it was actually after Bekah and I saw Stefan while we were out dress shopping this morning that I realized just how in love with Elijah I am."

"I'm happy for you, 'Lena. You and Elijah both deserve to be happy."

"Thank you Jer."

"Of course."

The rest of the car ride to Klaus' mansion was silent. Despite not having actually answered Jeremy's question as to why she was so nervous, Elena's nerves has mostly died down. As they pulled up to the mansion, Elena's breath was taken away. Klaus might be evil incarnate, but the mansion was beautiful. Definitely fit for a family of vampires. Not that the whole family lived there. Getting lost in the beauty of the house in front of her, Elena had a brief flash of what it would be like to get married here, with Elijah waiting for her at the end of the aisle, but she quickly shook it away as Jeremy offered her his hand to help her out of the car and escorted her inside.

As they walked inside, a staff member took Elena's shawl from her, and Elena felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the cool night air from outside. Elijah had spotted her, even though she hadn't had a chance to seek him out in the crowd, he had seen her as she walked in. Before she could register what was happening, she was being lightly pulled away from Jeremy while her brother was being pulled in the opposite direction. Looking up at who had taken her away from her brother, Elena smiled at Elijah. He did nothing but give her smile in return but continued to lead her through the crowd to a secluded hallway before pinning her between his body and the wall.

"You successfully took my breath away, darling." Elijah commented, his voice lower as he leaned down and pressed his lips to her neck.

"That's what I was going for." Elena groaned.

"I tried to find out why Mother wants to meet with you, and all I could get from her or Finn was that it is required that you meet her alone." Elijah said.

"So much for us never leaving each other's side tonight." Elena replied with a pout.

"Oh, I'm not leaving you alone. I will still walk you to the room she wishes to meet you in and I will wait outside. Possibly have a rousing discussion with my older brother on what is was like to be desiccating in a coffin for most of his life." Elijah growled.

"Should we be overly worried about your mother's intentions for tonight?" Elena asked.

"I believe so." Elijah said while pulling away from Elena's neck and cradled her face in his hands. "I love you, Elena."

"I love you too, Elijah." Elena replied with a smile.

"I'm going to kiss you now, so I apologize in advance if I mess up your lipstick."

"It's smudge proof. At least it's supposed to be. Feel free to test it."

With a growl, Elijah captured Elena's lips with his in a searing kiss. He had wanted to kiss her like this that afternoon when she had gotten home from shopping with Rebekah, but they hadn't had the time. They technically didn't have the time now, but he didn't care. And he would continue to not care until his mother sent one of his siblings (probably Finn) to come find him, and he was forced to separate from Elena. It really didn't help that she was softly moaning into the kiss. It was, of course, right when he was about to deepen the kiss that a cleared throat broke them apart.

"Elijah, Mother says its time to... my, my Brother. You do have a type." Klaus said with a smirk as his eyes landed on Elena.

"You are one to talk, Niklaus." Elijah replied with a possessive arm around Elena's waist, holding her close.

"Does Stefan know about this development?" Klaus asked.

"Probably. Not that it's really any of his business." Elena said with a shrug.

"This is why you were being so short with him in Chicago, Brother, wasn't it? You didn't want him to know that you were hooking up with his girl." Klaus said, his smirk returning as his eyes widened with glee.

"So what if it was? As Elena just said, it's none of his business. You compelled him to turn off his humanity, and then he left with you. Elena stopped being his concern the second he joined you on your hybrid making binge." Elijah snapped.

"Is this love?"

"Yes it is, Niklaus."


	15. Chapter 15

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 15

Klaus looked between Elijah and Elena and simply nodded. Even Elena could tell that he was silently agreeing not to hurt her. _'One down, 3 to go.'_ Elena thought to herself. She still had yet to meet Finn, Kol and Esther, because, according to Elijah and Rebekah, they were the wild cards, more so than Klaus, which Elena had found odd, given Klaus' obsession with the doppelgänger to break his curse, but seeing Klaus agree to not hurt her, she understood Elijah and Rebekah's reasoning now. At least for the most part. She couldn't make judgements on the members of the Mikaelson Family that she had yet to meet.

"As I was saying, Mother says it's time to start." Klaus said as Caroline walked up next to him and took her hand in his.

"Your mother made a speech without the two of you and said that the dance portion is about to start. She demands that her children be there front and center with their dates." Caroline said softly.

"Thank you, love. We're on our way." Klaus said.

"Caroline..." Elena started but before she could continue, Klaus and Caroline were gone, leaving Elena feeling rejected by both of her best friends in the same day. "I can't take them not talking to me, Elijah. What did I do wrong? I've tried to support them in their relationships since after my parents died, and they continue to put me down about mine." She said as tears shone in her eyes.

"You've done nothing wrong, my darling. Caroline is being compelled my Niklaus, that much we know. As for Bonnie... we aren't sure what's going on between her and Damon. They will come around, Elena. I will continue to do everything I can to ensure that you get your best friends back. But for right now, we need to make an appearance." Elijah said as he wiped the few stray tears that had escaped down Elena's cheeks away with his thumbs.

"Is there any way for us to leave right after the dance? Avoid meeting with your mother all together tonight?" Elena asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not. Finn will most likely have been tasked with making sure you don't leave before meeting with Mother. Whether you're with me or not." Elijah replied with a frown.

"We're never going to have a normal relationship, are we?" Elena questioned.

"I highly doubt it. I'm a 1000 year old vampire, and you are the 2nd known doppelgänger of the woman who's blood not only bound Niklaus' Hybrid curse but was also used to turned my siblings and I into vampires." Elijah said as he offered his arm to Elena and led her towards the ballroom. "Once we get in there, just follow my lead." He added in a whisper.

Elena nodded, no longer able to find her voice as she took in the sight of the ballroom, and the amount of people that were staring at her and Elijah as they walked in together and took their place next to Rebekah and Jeremy. The dance itself went well for the most part, but when it came to switching partners, Elena ended up with Kol and she didn't like the smirk that graced his face when he took her in.

"My brother definitely has a type." He said.

"I really wish everyone would stop saying that. I'm nothing like Tatia or Katherine." Elena snapped.

"Easy, darling, just an observation." Kol replied and if he wasn't having to hold her in frame, Elena assumed he would have held his hands up in surrender.

"And please don't call me 'darling', it's a little creepy." Elena requested.

"I call everyone 'darling'. It's my thing." He said.

"That just makes it even more creepy. Not to mention you calling me 'darling' when I'm dating your brother, it's unnerving." She commented.

"Then what would you have me call you? Nik seems to have dibs on 'love' and 'sweetheart'. You don't want me to call you 'darling'." Kol inquired.

"Elena works just fine, thank you."

"Elena it is then."

She immediately regretted that request. Kol had a way of making her name sound creepy. Maybe it was just Kol. And how Kol spoke. Elena didn't know, she just wanted to be able to stop dancing with him. While she got her silent wish, her new partner wasn't much better, because now she was paired with Finn. And while the eldest Mikaelson didn't give off the creepy vibe that Kol did, Elena still wasn't comfortable around him.

"I apologize for Kol's comments." Finn said.

"While I appreciate the apology, it doesn't mean much coming from you. It should come from Kol himself, but I take it he's not the kind of guy that apologizes for making a girl feel uneasy." Elena replied.

"Not only is he not the kind of guy to apologize, he's also the kind of guy that doesn't care if he makes any one feel uneasy." Finn explained.

"I see." Elena said with a small nod.

"After the dance, my mother has requested that I escort you to meet with her." He said, his voice dropping low.

"Elijah has already offered, and while I mean no offense, I would feel more comfortable going to meet your mother with my boyfriend at my side."

"Mother won't let him into the room. It is just to be her and you."

"Elijah and I are both very much aware of that. It does not change the fact that I would be more comfortable with him escorting me and waiting outside the room." She said curtly. "Are we right to assume that you will be waiting outside the room as well?" She asked.

"You are."

"And are we also right to assume that whatever your mother has planned, you agree with one hundred percent?"

"Correct again."

"Should I be concerned that someone will get hurt by the end of the night?"

"It depends on how you take at my mother's request."

"Please excuse me, Finn, I need some air." Elena said as she abruptly broke out of Finn's hold and headed for the door.

She could feel everyone watching her as she made her exit, but Elena didn't care. Her head was spinning, and she couldn't think straight. Nor could she breathe properly. She was almost to the front door when her path was blocked by Finn. The look on his face was calm, but his demeanor was intimidating. Elena tried to take a few deep breaths to calm herself, but it wasn't working. As Finn approached her, Elena felt trapped, at least until she felt Elijah's hand on her lower back. When Elijah turned his back on his brother and cupped Elena's face in his hands, she felt better.

"Are you okay?" Elijah asked softly.

"I just needed some air." Elena replied.

"What did you do, Finn?" Elijah questioned dropping his hands from Elena's face to take one of her hands in his and turning to face his brother.

"I answered her questioned about why mother wants to meet with her as honestly as I can." Finn responded with a shrug.

"She's terrified, Finn. How can you be so calm about the fact that your terrified the woman I love?" Elijah inquired.

"You really think you love her?" Finn asked, his eyes going wide.

"I don't _think_ that I love her, I _know_ that I love her." Elijah stressed the difference. "I _thought_ I loved Tatia. But Elena is nothing like Tatia, and I love her all the more for it."

"She's human, Elijah. It'll never last." Finn scoffed.  
"You don't know what our plans are for the future, so you don't know if it'll last or not." Elijah replied defiantly.

"That is enough, both of you."

Finn and Elijah continued to stare each other down, but Elena turned to the voice. The woman was beautiful, Elena would give her that, but she was even more intimidating that Finn had just been, and Elena instantly sensed that this was Esther Mikaelson. The Original Witch. The matriarch of the Mikaelson Family. Elijah's mother. Just the look in Esther's eyes as she watched her two eldest sons stare at each other was enough to inform Elena why Elijah didn't want her meeting with his mother alone. However, when neither Finn nor Elijah showed any sign of backing down, Esther let out a quick sigh before turning her attention to Elena.

"You must be Elena. It's nice to finally meet you." Esther said.

"It's nice to finally meet you as well, Mrs. Mikaelson." Elena replied, her hand tightening in the hold that Elijah had on it.

"Please, call me Esther." The older woman said.

"Esther." Elena corrected with a tight smile.

"While my sons try and out-ego each other, I would love to talk to you alone." Esther commented.

"I'm sorry if I offend, but I would feel a lot better if Elijah was there." Elena said.

"I'm afraid that won't be doable. You see, it's a particular matter that pertains solely to you, as the doppelgänger." Esther said.

"She said she didn't want to meet with you alone, Mother. Either I'm there, or you don't get to talk to Elena at all." Elijah said, breaking his stare down with Finn to look at his mother.

"This is non-negotiable, Elijah. And need I remind you that there are ways for me to make you both comply against your wishes?" Esther said, her eyes blazing as she turned her sharp gaze on Elijah.

"She's an innocent, Mother. Haven't you already put enough innocent people at risk? Why must you go after the woman that I love?" Elijah questioned.

"Mother, people are starting to stare, maybe we should take this conversation somewhere more private." Finn suggested as he moved to Esther's side.

"Elena, dear, I promise I won't keep you long, but I must insist that I speak with you alone. If it comforts you somewhat, my son can walk with us to the room I have set up, but he will have to wait outside." Esther said, and Elena looked to Elijah.

"Please give us a few minutes." Elena said while pulling Elijah's hand and leading him towards the front door.

Only once she thought that they were a safe distance away from the mansion did Elena come to a stop and turn to face Elijah.

"If your idea was to get as far away as possible before my family realized we had left, we really shouldn't stop, my darling." Elijah commented.

"As much as I would like to get back to our apartment, and just hide away from the world for the next few days, I don't think we have that choice." Elena said sullenly, but Elijah's face lit up.

"'Our apartment'?" He questioned.

"I know 3 weeks is still too early for me to officially and completely move in, but my name is on the lease, for safety reasons, so I think it's appropriate to call it 'ours'." Elena said with a small nod.

"I completely agree, darling." Elijah said.

"What do you think we should do?" Elena asked.  
"As you said, we don't have a choice. We can't leave." Elijah replied.

"Can I trust her?"

"I don't."

"Then I'll see what she has to say, but I won't agree to anything if it puts you or Rebekah in danger." Elena said.

"Elena..." Elijah said slowly.

"No... if whatever she needs me for, if it puts you or Rebekah in any kind of danger, I'm not going it." Elena said sternly.

"Even if it got rid of my brother?" Elijah asked.

"He promised not to hurt me when you told him that you loved me. As long as he is a man of his word to any degree, then I have no reason to want him gone." Elena replied.

"Okay then. I will walk with you to wherever my mother wants to meet, and I will wait outside. The second you're done talking to her, we are going home and not leaving the bedroom." Elijah said before pulling Elena into a deep kiss.

"So Mother is back there fuming and talking about how timing is important, and you're out here making out with your girlfriend."

Elijah growled at the interruption as he broke the kiss and half turned to glare at Kol. To Kol's credit, he didn't react to his older brother's glare, simply giving the couple a smirk.

"Go away Kol." Elijah said.

"Hey, I just came to relay a message. Why she didn't send Nik or Bekah, or Finn is beyond me. But you know me, I don't care about Mother's rules or schedule for the evening. So continue making out." Kol said. "And darling, don't break my brother's heart." He added before Elijah lunged at him.

"Never. Call. Her. That. Again." Elijah said through clenched teeth as he grabbed his brother by the throat.

"Elijah, let him go. He did it on purpose to get a rise out of one of us." Elena said as she quickly close the distance between her and Elijah and pulled on his free hand.

"No one calls her darling but me, do you understand me?" Elijah asked as he set his brother down.

"Elijah, look at me." Elena demanded. 

Elena waited until Elijah was looking at her instead of glaring at Kol to move in even closer and taking his face in her hands. In the bout of anger that flared at his brother's chosen term of "endearment", Elijah's vampire visage came out and Elena ran her thumbs over his cheeks.

"Kol isn't worth it, Elijah. I love that you are so protective of me. But he is not worth your anger. I told him inside not to call me darling, and he did it to see which of us would react. Let him go." Elena said as she watched the veins slowly disappear and his eyes return to their normal color.

"If it helps, 'Lijah, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it." Kol said and Elijah slowly released his grip on Kol's throat.

"Leave Kol. Now." Elijah demanded.

"I'm leaving." Kol said, and true to his word, he was gone.

"I'm sorry, Elena. I don't like you seeing me like that." Elijah said.

"Elijah, I love you. And that means all of who you are. I don't want you to hide your vampire visage from me. Granted, I would hate for it to be directed at me, but I never want you to hide it." Elena said.

"We should head back. Mother will only continue sending my siblings to find us until we go back." Elijah said as he glanced over his shoulder.

Elena nodded and took Elijah's hand in hers, lacing their fingers together as the walked. Trying to take his mind off of what his mother had planned, Elijah took in Elena's appearance. Her dress hugged her curves wonderfully, and the colors flattered her skin tone. Her hair was styled in waves, and with it pulled over one shoulder, he was tempted to actually mark the side of her neck that was bared to the world. Her make-up was simple, yet elegant, and Elijah appreciated the fact that Elena didn't feel the need to load tons of beauty products on. She only ever enhanced her natural beauty with small amounts here and there, and never went with over the top colors.

"Finally. Please tell me that the two of you have come to your senses and agreed to Elena meeting with me, alone?" Esther questioned as they walked back into the mansion.

"We have a few conditions to Elena meeting with you alone." Elijah replied.

"And those would be?" Esther asked.

"Number 1: you will tell Elena exactly what you are planning, which leads us to number 2: if she believes that your plans puts either myself and/or Rebekah in danger, she will not agree." Elijah said.

"And the last condition?"

"As soon as we are done talking, Elijah and I are leaving." Elena said.

Esther shared a glance with Finn, in which they seemed to have a silent conversation, one that did not go unnoticed by the rest of the Mikaelson family. After a few minutes, she let out a sigh and turned back to the couple.

"If you agree to what I have planned, will you reconsider the last condition and stay until the end of the night?" Esther asked.

"No we will not. No matter if I agree or not, Elijah and I are leaving as soon as you and I are done." Elena said firmly.

"Very well. Finn, please come with us. Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, please make sure none of the guests come upstairs." Esther instructed, her tone leaving no room for argument.

As they followed Esther and Finn upstairs and through a maze of hallways, Elijah kept one arm firmly around Elena's waist, his thumb rubbing circles on her side as his other hand held hers. When they finally came to a stop in a room as far away from the ball as they possibly could be, Finn placed a hand on Elijah's shoulder to stop him from going any further, only for Elijah to shrug it off and fully take Elena into his arms.

"I love you, my darling Elena." He whispered.

"I love you too, Elijah." She replied.

"Right in here, Elena." Esther said with a forced polite smile that left a bad feeling in Elena's gut.

"So... what would you like to talk about? It's not about the fact that I'm a human and your son is a vampire, is it? Because we don't care about that." Elena said, trying to break the tension that had settled over the room when Esther closed the door firmly behind them.

"This has nothing to do with your supposed relationship with my son." Esther replied.

"I'm sorry, supposed? Elijah and I are very much in a relationship with each other. There is nothing 'supposed' about it." Elena bit back.

"Forgive me, I meant doomed. But that is still not what we are here to discuss. You see, when my husband and I wished to make our family stronger, we had no intention of turning our children into abominations. And I definitely did not intend on making Niklaus into the worst abomination of them all. Over the past summer, Niklaus has been attempting to make more hybrids like himself, but because I do not want that to happen, I told him that the doppelgänger needed to die. When the werewolves he tried to turn didn't succeed, he figured it was because you were still alive. The truth is that your blood is needed to successfully make hybrids. But that would only enable more abominations to be created. I need a drop of your blood to cast a spell that will link my children together. While alone, Niklaus cannot be killed, if he is linked to my other children, if any of them are to be killed, he will die as well. And every single vampire that is in each of my children's sire lines will cease to exist." Esther explained.

"I won't do it." Elena said.

"You do not understand, Elena..." Esther tried.

"Oh, I understand perfectly. You are trying to rectify something that you see as a mistake. Just to make yourself feel better. But I will not help you kill your children. Because one of your children is the start of the sire line that one of my best friends is a descendant from. And I will definitely not help in killing the man that I love, and one of my only friends right now. And when Elijah told Klaus tonight that he loves me, Klaus promised not to hurt me, so he will not be trying to get my blood to make more hybrids." Elena said before storming towards the door.

"You cannot leave this room, Elena." Esther said. "Not until I get what I need." She added.

"You're not getting it." Elena replied defiantly.

"Yes, I am."

"ELIJAH!"


	16. Chapter 16

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 16

 **A/N:** I apologize in advance for the abruptness of at least the first part of the chapter. I am trying to capture Elena's urgency as accurately as I possibly can for what Esther has planned.

"My son can't hear you." Esther said. "I did a privacy spell on the room so no one, not even my children, could hear what is said between us." She continued, a new wave of dread washing over Elena. "Now, are you going to willingly give me a drop of your blood, or are you going to make me force you to give it to me?" She asked.

Elena leveled the witch with a defiant look. _'You and Elijah are leaving after this is done. Esther needed you both to stay, so if there's something else that she needs to complete the spell that links all of her children, Elijah won't be here for it, and it'll fail anyway.'_ Elena thought to herself as she slowly pulled her glove off of her hand and holding her hand out.

"Actually," Elena said, pulling her hand back quickly, "what else is there that needs to happen for the spell to be completed?" She asked.

"Your drop of blood will be mixed with the champagne later in the evening. Each of my children must drink the champagne." Esther said, and Elena slowly held her hand back out.

Once Esther had the drop of Elena's blood, she released the privacy spell, and Elena exited the room, grabbing Elijah's hand as she exited and pulled him back down the hallway.

"What happened?" Elijah asked.

"Not here." Elena muttered, hoping that they were far enough away that Finn couldn't hear her. "We need to get you and Rebekah out of here. Klaus too, if we can manage it, if we can't, I'll be content with just you and Rebekah." She continued.

"Elena, tell me what my mother wanted." Elijah insisted.

"Not... here... Elijah." She said through clenched teeth.

Elijah gave her a frown, but Elena ignored it. More focused on getting him downstairs so they could find Rebekah and Jeremy and get out of the mansion. She would explain what Esther was planning once they were a safe distance away. Like, back in the safety of their apartment. However, as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were stopped by Klaus and Caroline.

"Brother, I was wondering if I could have a dance with your girlfriend? Formally apologize for the hurt I've caused her." Klaus said.

"While I appreciate the gesture, Klaus, Elijah and I were actually just leaving. You might want to as well. I can't explain it now, but your mother is planning something. I know this is your house, but none of you are safe here." Elena said already scanning the room for Rebekah and Jeremy, finding them by the front door.

"He's the host, Elena, it's rude to deny him a dance." Caroline said.

"Care, I love you, but I am trying to keep him, Elijah and Rebekah safe. Don't test me." Elena snapped.

"What of Kol, and Finn?" Klaus asked.

"Finn is in on what your mother has planned, Kol... I don't much care for him. Sorry." Elena said glancing at Elijah with an apologetic smile.

"Niklaus, our mother insisted on meeting with Elena alone. And put a privacy spell on the room. I trust Elena's judgement on this. If she says we need to leave, then we should." Elijah said as Elena made to step around Klaus.

"Of course, thank you for attending tonight Elena." Klaus said briefly taking her hand to kiss the back of it as his eyes landed on something, or someone behind Elena and Elijah.

Elena nodded and gave Klaus the shortest curtsey she could before she and Elijah made their way through the crowd and towards the front door, where Rebekah and Jeremy were giving them odd looks.

"No time explain, but we need to leave, now." Elijah said placing his free hand on Rebekah's back to usher her out.

"I heard... Mother has something planned. Why aren't we trying to get Kol out, again?" Rebekah asked.

"If at least one of you isn't here, what she has planned won't work, but you and Elijah are my priorities. Kol will be fine if the four of us get out of here and back to the apartment." Elena said.

"Finn is coming this way." Rebekah breathed out.

"Get out of the house, Bekah, I mean it. You too Elijah." Elena said urgently.

"I'm not leaving you, Elena." Elijah argued.

"Please, Elijah, we don't have time for this." Elena pleaded.

With a push, Elena managed to get Elijah, Rebekah and Jeremy out of the house before Finn caught her arm, spinning her around to face him. The look in his eyes terrified her, but Elena didn't let it show. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Elijah trying to get back to her, but Rebekah was pulling him in the opposite direction. Elena's heart broke at the sight, but at least they would be safe. Now Elena's only hope of getting out the house herself was Klaus, as ironic as it was. But since he hadn't left, and had promised not to hurt her, she had to believe that he would get Finn to let her go so that she could get back to Elijah.

"Brother, may I ask what you think you're doing?" Klaus asked as he appeared in front of Finn.

"Taking her back to Mother." Finn said simply.

"And simply asking her to rejoin Mother was out of the question? Elijah will not be please that you have such a bruising grip on his girlfriend's arm." Klaus replied.

"Stay out of this Niklaus." Finn said threateningly.

"I'm inclined to agree with Nik on this, Finn. Elijah won't be happy. And aren't we all about family tonight?" Kol asked.

"This is between the girl and Mother. Elijah isn't not important." Finn argued.

"That might be so, but _Elena_ is important to Elijah. And you are hurting her. So, as this is my house, I am telling you to let her go." Klaus said, stressing her name.

"You've been after the doppelgänger since we were turned 1000 years ago. Why are you protecting this one?" Finn asked, his eyes narrowing at his half-brother.

"Because I value the lives of those my siblings have come to care for and love. Elijah loves Elena, and I have promised not to harm her. Now again I say, you are in _my_ house, so let her go." Klaus said, a growl underlining his words as his eyes briefly flashed yellow.

"Mother will not be pleased." Finn said, but released Elena's arm all the same.

"Kol, bring Elena to Elijah." Klaus instructed, and the younger male nodded, making sure to not touch the bruise that was already forming on Elena's arm. "Touch or harm Elena again, and you will find yourself back in your coffin." He added before walking away from his older brother.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

While Rebekah and Jeremy had succeeded in getting Elijah to the car, he had insisted that they not leave without Elena being with them. As the other two sat in the car, Elijah alternated between impatiently tapping his foot while glancing back towards the mansion and pacing back and forth. What felt like much too long of a wait, Elijah heard Elena's quickened heartbeat and shortness of breath. Glancing up, he saw Kol escorting Elena towards the car, but before he could be mad as his younger brother for touching Elena, he noticed how gentle Kol was being, and was just as quickly rushing to Elena's side as he had about to have been threatening Kol.

"Finn grabbed her arm, and it's bruising, badly. Nik pulled the 'his house, his rules' on Finn to get him to let her go. Then told me to bring her to you." Kol explained as Elijah bit his own wrist and offered it to Elena.

"No, Elijah, I can't." Elena insisted.

"You got hurt, and this will heal you." Elijah responded, urging her with a look to drink from him.

As she tentatively brought Elijah's wrist to her lips, Kol let Elena go, and she leaned into Elijah, who wrapped his free arm around her waist. Holding her against him for a few minutes, Elijah tried to find something to say to his younger brother, but nothing felt adequate enough. He opened him mouth and closed it multiple times, but nothing came out. He was a man of his words, but words were failing him at the moment.

"You don't have to say anything Elijah. Nik and I did what we did to make sure she was safe. You're our brother, and we value family, even if we don't always show it. We'll continue to help protect her." Kol said before stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking back towards the house.

"Kol, wait." Elijah called out as Elena pulled away from his wrist and motioned towards his brother.

"Thank you Kol." Elena said with a tired smile.

"Of course Elena." He said with a nod.

"And tell Klaus not to drink the champagne tonight. Your mother is trying to bind the 5 of you together so that she can kill one of you to kill all of you, as well as your sire lines. It's the only way to kill Klaus." Elena warned, and Elijah's face hardened.

"She wants to kill us all?" Elijah asked.

"Yes. I guess since Finn is in on it that he has offered to be the sacrifice. I couldn't leave the room until I gave her a drop of my blood, but I couldn't kill all of you." Elena explained, her eyes filling with tears as she glanced up at Elijah. "I'm so sorry, I didn't want to give it to her, but I didn't have a choice. It's why I had to get you and Rebekah out of the house." She said.

"It's okay, my darling Elena. I'm not mad at you. But I'm taking you home now." Elijah said as he bent to get his arm under her legs to lift her up into his arms. "Thank you, Kol." He said before carrying Elena to the car.

After Elijah placed Elena onto the back seat of the car, he walked around to the other side and climbed in next to her, indicating to the driver to leave. Pulling his girlfriend onto his lap, Elijah placed one hand on Elena's hip and the other on her head, urging her to rest her head on his shoulder. He met Rebekah and Jeremy's eyes, but none of them said anything. Elijah was sure that Rebekah had heard what Elena had just told him and Kol, and had relayed it to Jeremy, but he didn't want to talk about it. He just wanted to get Elena home so that they could forget about tonight.

"Is she going to be okay?" Jeremy asked, his concern for his sister evident in his voice.

"She will be. Tonight piled on top of everything else that she's being having to deal with for the past few weeks has not been easy for her. She's emotionally drained." Elijah replied.

"I'm still awake, you know." Elena mumbled.

"I know darling, I know." Elijah replied back, placing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Is there anything that I can do, Elena?" Jeremy asked.

"Don't tell Ric about any of this?" Elena requested.

"Why not?"

"Because, if Esther had been successful, she wouldn't have just killed her children, but all vampires. That includes people that he cares about. That we care about." Elena said.

"Damon, Stefan and Caroline, you mean."

"Well, I care about Caroline, yes, but Ric, I know, cares about Damon and Stefan."

"Okay, I won't tell him."

The rest of the car ride was silent, but tense. Elijah was holding Elena as close as he could without hurting her, and Jeremy had an arm around Rebekah's shoulders as she rested her head on his shoulder. The severity of what could have happened tonight weighed heavily on all of their minds, but Elena's the most. It was her ancestor's blood that had turned the Mikaelson children into vampires, and her blood was the key to wiping out vampires all together. It had been her same ancestor's blood that had bound Klaus' Hybrid curse, and it had been her blood that had broken the curse. Everything about the supernatural world seemed to hinge on her blood line, and she was brought back to the conversation that she and Elijah had had the day after her birthday. About if she wanted a family of her own. If they couldn't dispel the evil that Esther brought to their lives, then the answer would be a resounding 'no'. She wouldn't want to put her descendants at the same risk her life was in as a human.

Once they arrived back at the apartment, Elijah carried Elena inside, and she was happy to let him do so. She was too tired from the whirlwind events of the day to walk, or to even be on her feet in heels any longer. When Elijah brought her upstairs after bidding goodnight to their siblings, Elena smiled up at him. Another day where they had planned on making love when they got home, and another day where something happened that prevented it from happening. And for the first time, she wasn't disappointed by the fact. They would make love when the time was right and trying to plan it out clearly wasn't working in their favor. But when Elijah placed her down gently on the bed and moved away, Elena gave him a confused look. He didn't respond verbally, but he moved to the bathroom and started drawing a bath before coming back to her and helping her out of her dress and removing the pins from her hair.

"What were you thinking about in the car?" Elijah asked softly as he ran his fingers through Elena's hair and gently massaged her scalp.

"That if we don't get rid of your mother, I don't want to continue my blood line." Elena admitted.

"And if we do manage to rid our lives of my mother?" He asked.

"Then eventually, I would want to have a child of my own." She replied.

"And you would be okay with having a child that isn't biologically mine?" He questioned.

"I would. Because I would want us to choose an anonymous sperm donor that preferably isn't supernatural, and then the baby would be yours in every other way than blood, but it would still be ours." She explained. "Would you be okay if I were to have a baby that isn't biologically yours?" She asked turning to face him.

"As long as I would get to raise a child with you and spend the rest of my life with you by my side, then I will happily have a baby that isn't biologically mine."

"Then it's decided. If we can get your mother out of our lives, then after I graduate, we can start to really plan for a family of our own." Elena said with nod as she wrapped her arms around Elijah's waist.

"That we will, darling Elena." Elijah agreed. "But for tonight, you need to relax, so into the bath you go." He said as he lifted her into his arms and carrying her to the tub and gently placing her into the warm water.

"Are you not joining me tonight?" Elena asked.

"Tonight is about you, Elena. You've had a much more stressful day than I have. I want to take care of you." Elijah said. "We have the rest of our lives to take relaxing baths together."

"I love you so much, Elijah."

"I love you too, my dear, sweet, darling Elena."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

The ball was over soon after Klaus had sent Kol to bring Elena to Elijah. He was no longer in a party mood, and he needed to have some words with his mother when Kol came back inside and told him what Elena had said. He was angry that he had believed his mother's words so easily when she had turned on him. He didn't regret killing the first time, and if given the chance, he figured he wouldn't regret killing her a second time. And he was sure that if he did manage to kill Esther again, that his siblings, mainly Rebekah, would be more understanding of his actions this time around. Klaus was so angry that he had even broken the compulsion he had Caroline under and sent her on her way. He cared too much about the young blonde vampire to have her present for what was undoubtedly about to transpire between him and his mother and brother.

"Mother." Klaus said as he walked into the room that his mother had temporarily been occupying for the last 24 hours.

"Niklaus." Esther replied, only sparing her middle child a small glance before returning her attention to the grimoire that she had been reading.

"You want us dead." Klaus stated.

"Mikael and I never should have made you and your siblings into Vampires. You were already a monster, making a Vampire as well was a major mistake. One that I plan to rectify." Esther responded.

"And you planned on using Elena Gilbert, a woman that Elijah loves, to help kill us all?" Klaus asked.

"Her blood was a necessary component of the spell, yes. Your brother's feelings for her caused a complication. But their feelings for each other will diminish soon enough, and I will be able to complete the spell."

"And what makes you think that me, or Kol, or Rebekah or Elijah will take anything you give us to allow you to bind us together?"

"You won't have a choice."

"I want you and Finn out of my house. Neither of you are welcome here anymore. And if either of you try to do anything to hurt Elena, or ruin hers and Elijah's relationship, I will not hesitate to take both of you down."

With that, Klaus left the room, making sure to throw, smash, kick and purposefully break everything in the room and pushing past Finn as he showed up in the doorway. As he headed down the hallway, Klaus pulled out his phone and dialed Elijah, hoping his brother would take his call.

" **What is it, Niklaus?** " Elijah asked.

"Mother just confirmed she still intends to off us all. She anticipates you and Elena not lasting, and still using Elena's blood to bind us and kill us. And she says that when your relationship reaches its "inevitable demise", that she will force you, me, Kol and Rebekah to take whatever she gives us." Klaus explained.

" **Then we will need to work together to defeat her.** " Elijah commented.

"Yes we will. And please inform Elena that I have released Caroline from my compulsion." Klaus said.

" **I will. We'll talk in the morning to set up a time to meet, Brother. But as for tonight, Elena is emotionally drained, and we are about to head to bed.** " Elijah said.

"Sleep well, Brother." Klaus said before ending the call.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"What did Klaus have to say?" Elena asked as she crawled into bed and curled up on top of Elijah's chest.

"He confronted our mother and she confirmed what you said. He is with us on the idea of stopping her from completing her mission of killing us." Elijah replied. "And he has released Caroline from his compulsion."


	17. Chapter 17

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 17

 **Chapter 16 Review Replies:**

 **thnw32:** You're continued support of this story is amazing, and I can't thank you enough for it. My favorite Mikaelson siblings, if it isn't obvious, are Elijah and Rebekah, but I love Kol as well, and Klaus has his moments. And I wanted to see Klaus' ego take a bit of a hit to knock him down a peg or two, to ensure Elijah's happiness.

Caroline wasn't sure what it was that led her here, but she here she was. She knew that Klaus had had her compelled for the last couple of weeks, and that he hadn't made her do anything horrible, just wanted her companionship which he had admitted when he broke the compulsion that he hadn't thought she would give willingly. But she hadn't known what had led her to Elijah's apartment. Had Klaus or Stefan mentioned that Elena had been staying with Elijah? Caroline couldn't remember that, but she was now standing in front of the apartment door, her hand raised to knock, but couldn't bring herself to do so.

"Caroline?"

"Jeremy? What are you doing here?" Caroline asked as she turned to see her best friend's younger brother come out of the apartment down the hall.

"Rebekah asked me to stay with her until she fell asleep." Jeremy explained.

"You're dating Rebekah now?" Caroline questioned.

"Not dating. At least not yet. We're still getting to know each other, and we like each other, but things are a little complicated right now for Elena and Elijah, so we're trying to be there for them." Jeremy explained.

"What's happened? I feel like being compelled kept me out of the loop... despite being at Klaus' side this entire time." Caroline said.

"Esther Mikaelson wants to use Elena's blood to link her children, and then kill one of them to be able to kill all of them, Klaus especially, which would kill every other vampire in the world." Jeremy said, giving the blonde in front of him a pointed look.

"Every... oh my god! That has to be why Klaus broke the compulsion and sent me away." Caroline said, more to herself than to Jeremy, when his words set it.

"I guess so. And I take it you have no idea how hard the last few weeks have been for Elena without you and Bonnie around?" Jeremy questioned.

"Wait, what? What's going on with Bonnie? The last thing I remember hearing was that the two of you broke up."

"She had been sleeping around with Damon behind my back. And when Klaus compelled you, causing you to avoid Elena, Bonnie started to avoid Elena as well. Elena has been miserable without her best friends."

"Yeah right. Bonnie and Damon would never sleep together. She hates him."

"You think she would really be able lie to me when I caught her leaving his house in the middle of the day, her hair and clothes rumpled?" Jeremy questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Why were you at his house?" Caroline asked.

"Because I was looking for Elena. She hadn't been answering her phone, so I had thought that maybe she was there looking for leads on Stefan. I found Bonnie instead." Jeremy said.

"I'm so sorry, Jeremy." Caroline said.

"Now that you know why I'm here... why are you here?"

"I... don't know. Klaus released me from his compulsion and the next thing that I knew, I was here."  
"Are you going to knock?"

"I was about you, but then you called my name."

"They might already be asleep. After everything Elena has been through, just today alone, she's drained, and Elijah wanted to get her to sleep as soon as possible."

"Oh, well, then can you let her know that I stopped by, and that I'll call her some time tomorrow?"

"Of course. Have a good rest of your night, Caroline." Jeremy said as he headed out.

After watching Jeremy leave the building, Caroline turned back to the door in front of her. Figuring that there might be a chance that Elijah was still awake, even if Elena was already asleep, Caroline raised her fist to knock lightly. After a few minutes, and not hearing any movement, Caroline started to think that Elijah might have been asleep as well, and that she could just call Elena the next day, and they could possibly hang out the next day, but before she could turn to leave, the door opened, and Elijah was standing before her.

"Miss Forbes." He said simply.

"I know it's late, and I'm sorry if I woke you. I'm not even sure why I came here of all places, but I um, wanted to apologize to Elena for my behavior over the last two weeks." Caroline rambled.

"Elena is already asleep, but I will let her know you stopped by." Elijah said.

"Yeah, Jeremy just left and said that she was probably asleep, but I thought, 50/50 chance that you were still awake, so I tried. I'll just go so that you can get back to Elena." She said.

"Caroline... Elena knows that you were compelled by my brother. And I just got off the phone with Niklaus a little bit ago, and he informed us that he broke his compulsion on you." Elijah said, surprising the blonde by using her first name. "I'll have her call you tomorrow when she wakes up." He added.

"Thank you, Elijah. I'm sorry again for disturbing you."

Once Elijah had closed and relocked the front door, he headed back upstairs, hoping to slip back under the covers without waking Elena, but found her sitting up in bed, her knees to her chest, waiting for him.

"You are a light sleeper, aren't you my darling?" Elijah asked.

"After getting accustomed to feeling your body next to mine, when you leave for any reason, it wakes me up." Elena replied. "Who was at the door?" She asked.

"Caroline. Not realizing that you had woken up when I left to answer the door, I told her that you were already asleep. And I informed her that I would let you know she stopped by and that you would call her in the morning." Elijah explained.

"Yeah, morning would be better." Elena said through a yawn.

"Sleep, darling. You need it." Elijah commented as he slid back under the covers and pulled her to him.

"Have I told you that I'm not looking forward to next week when I won't have you sleeping next to me every night?" Elena asked while taking one hand in hers and lacing their fingers together and resting her chin on the back of her other hand as it rested over his heart.

"Just because you won't be here, doesn't mean that you will be without me every night. If you need me to be there with you so that you can have a good night's sleep, I will gladly be there with you." Elijah said as he ran his fingers of his free hand through her hair.

"Do I _have_ to go back to my house?" Elena asked.

"You gave yourself a timeframe of 3 weeks, Elena. To give yourself, and Alaric, some space to clear your head of what happened and to be able to move past it. As much I will miss having my beautiful girlfriend here every day, you need Alaric in your life, and if you don't go back home while you're in school, seeing him in your history class will make it that much more difficult." Elijah replied. "And if it gets too hard to be at home, then you are welcome to come here a couple nights a week." He added.

"Why do you have to be such an amazing boyfriend?"

"Because I have always tried to be the best version of myself, and that's the kind of guy that you deserve."

With a nod and another yawn, Elena let her eyes drop close and Elijah pulled the covers up over them, ready to get some sleep himself. As he drifted off to sleep, flashes of his future with Elena formed a scene in Elijah's mind.

 _Elena rubbed her protruding belly as she moved around the kitchen. There were squeals of laughter as 2 little ones came running through, the boy, looking so much like he had as a child, chasing the girl that looked so much like a mini version of Elena._

" _Valencia, Raynor, stop running through the house. Mommy is very pregnant and doesn't have as much balance as she usually does." I chided and smiled when Elena mock glared at me._

" _Val took my toy, I want it back." Raynor whined._

" _Nuhuh, Ray took a toy from me before I was done playing with it, so I took it back." Valencia defended._

" _Can I see the toy?" I asked trying to hide my smirk when both children looked down and held their hands behind their backs._

" _You look very handsome today, Daddy." Valencia tried._

" _NOT FAIR!" Raynor exclaimed._

" _Raynor Grayson, Valencia Madeline, that is enough. Daddy asked to see which toy you two are fighting over, so you need to show it to him." Elena said sternly._

 _My eyes widened when both of our children held out their hands to show a pair of rings. I glanced up at Elena before picking up each ring and sending the children to their rooms to play._

" _Those aren't Bekah and Jeremy's wedding rings, are they?" Elena asked._

" _I believe they are. Which begs the question... how did our children get ahold of them?" I responded._

 _Elena was already calling her brother before I could call my sister. We hadn't seen our siblings in about a week, so if the rings that I was currently holding were really the wedding rings the belonged to our siblings, then our children had somehow managed to have them for a week without Rebekah or Jeremy realizing it. And that worried me. But when Elena turned to look at me and smiled, I let out a sigh of relief._

" _Jer said that he and Bekah got new rings and had given their original wedding rings to our children, since they aren't expensive." Elena explained._

" _That would have been nice to know sooner." I replied pulling her into a kiss._

Elijah woke as the scene faded. There was no way that he and Elena could have a son that looked like he had as a child. Vampires weren't able to procreate. But the scene had made him want a family with Elena all the more. They would figure something out. Glancing down at his sleeping girlfriend, Elijah smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of Elena's head. They would make it through his mother's schemes and come out even stronger because of it.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

As Caroline headed home, she felt her phone vibrating in her purse. When she saw that it was Klaus calling, she hit the ignore button. She needed to talk to Elena and Tyler, and apparently Bonnie as well, before talked to Klaus again. Elena she would talk to the next day, both Jeremy and Elijah said that they would let her know that Caroline had stopped by. As for Tyler and Bonnie, Caroline had a feeling that her boyfriend and other best friend wouldn't be as easy to talk to and ask for forgiveness from. But Caroline wouldn't be herself if she didn't at least try. So she sent off a quick text to both of them and hoped for the best.

 **Can we talk? I want to apologize for my behavior over the last 2 weeks. – Caroline**

Given the time, Caroline didn't expect to get a response, so she slipped her phone into her purse and sped off to her house. After the events of the night, and really, of the last 2 weeks in general, she was ready to be home and in her own bed. Throughout the compulsion, Caroline hadn't realized just how much she missed her own bed. It wasn't nearly as soft as the mattress on the bed in the guest bedroom that Klaus had set her up in, but it was hers and it was just what she needed right now. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was out like a light, ignorant to the fact that Klaus had followed her home and was watching her from the shadows outside her bedroom window.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

The following morning was a rarity. Elena woke up before Elijah did, and she took the opportunity to watch her boyfriend sleep. The stress from the night before seemed to have melted away from Elijah's face as he slept, and despite the threat of death at the hand of his mother, he looked peaceful. She wondered, not for the first time, if vampires could dream without the dreams being manipulated by an outside source, and if they could, what Elijah dreamed about. As Elena shifted her position to straddle Elijah's lap, she bit her lower lip. She hadn't done what she was about to do before, and she was anxious about how he would react.

"While I appreciate the wake up, there are other things in addition to straddling me that you could do to make it more efficient." Elijah commented, causing Elena to squeal as his voice broke through her thoughts.

"I was going to... I just haven't done this before." Elena replied.

"Do you want me to pretend to go back to sleep so you can finish what you had planned?" Elijah asked.

"No, it's okay. We have all the time in the world for that. I just wanted you to wake up." Elena said with a smile.

"Well, I'm awake now, my darling. What was the next step of your plan?" He questioned.

"I... hadn't gotten that far in my thought process. After waking you up, it was going to be a 'lets-see-where-this-goes' type of thing." She admitted.

"We could stay in bed all day. I don't have anything planned." Elijah suggested as his hands lightly rubbed Elena's thighs and hips.

"That sounds nice."

With that, Elijah rolled them over and pinned Elena to the bed, leaning down to capture her lips in a good morning kiss. Even if staying in bed all day was just them cuddling and talking about the more immediate future of her starting her Senior year of high school in a few days, Elijah wouldn't mind. He just wanted to have her in his arms and not worry about the outside world for a day. But, as their luck would have it, that plan was quickly shot down by a very persistent knocking on the front door. With a groan, Elijah motioned for Elena to stay in bed, saying he would be right back, before he made his way downstairs.

"You have a key, Rebekah, what is with the insistent knocking?" Elijah asked when he opened the door to find his sister on the other side.

"We have a lot to do today." Rebekah said as she pushed past her brother and headed for the living room.

"And what do we have to do today?" Elijah asked, eyeing his sister while internally groaning as yet another plan of his and Elena's was brought to a screeching halt.

"Elena needs to make up with Caroline, and we all need to figure out a way to stop Mother from killing us all." Rebekah replied while dropping onto the couch.

"Elena and I were going to stay in bed all day." Elijah commented with a smirk when Rebekah scowled.

"Not a bloody image I want in my head, Elijah." Rebekah said while covering her ears.

"Elijah, who was at the door?" Elena called from the top of the stairs.

"My sister. You might want to come down, darling. Rebekah has a list of things that need to get done today that we are involved in." Elijah replied.

"What happened to staying in bed all day?" Elena groaned and pouted at Elijah.

"As I just told my brother, not an image I want in my head." Rebekah retorted.

"We weren't going to do _that_ , Bekah. We just wanted a day of doing nothing." Elena said as she walked down the stairs and wrapped her arms around Elijah's waist from behind while resting her chin on his shoulder.

"I'll make it up to you, my dear." Elijah whispered.

"I can still hear you, Brother." Rebekah said with a knowing look.

"I am very much aware of that, Sister. And if you are so set on finding a way of stopping Mother, then we will need Niklaus and Kol, as well. We have no hope of stopping her if the four of us aren't working together." Elijah replied.

"As much as I appreciate their actions to keep me safe last night, I'm not ready to invite them in, Elijah." Elena commented.

"That's why we will be meeting at Rebekah's apartment." Elijah said, glancing at his sister.

"Absolutely not. I don't want Nik to bloody know where I live!" Rebekah exclaimed.

"Mystic Grill then." As much as he didn't like the place, it was the only place that wasn't one of their places of residence that Elijah could think of.

"Too much of a chance of running into Ric or Damon or Stefan." Elena denied quickly.

"Elena, you are going to need to see Alaric eventually. He is still your history teacher, and in just a few days, you'll be having to see him every day at school. And Stefan, for some reason, seems to want to repeat his Senior year of high school yet again, so you'll be seeing him every day as well. So if we go to the Mystic Grill today, and any of the three of them happen to be there, I'll be there with you the entire time." Elijah said soothingly.

"And what will you do to make her feel safe at school?" Rebekah inquired.

"You'll be there with her. You've never been able to finish a full school year. If we have Niklaus working with us, then there's less likely of a chance that you will be daggered at any point during the school year. I know you can protect her." Elijah explained.

"I'm standing right here, guys." Elena said while over-exaggerating waving her arms.

"Right, sorry my darling. Would you feel better about going to school if Rebekah is there with you?" Elijah asked.

"If it's something that Rebekah would like to do, then I have no problem with her being there." Elena replied, her gaze moving from her boyfriend to her friend.

"As my brother so eloquently put it, I've never been to school for a full year without Nik putting me into a box. So I'm in. Maybe we can talk Kol into attending school too." Rebekah suggested.

"Don't hold your breath, Sister." Elijah warned.


	18. Chapter 18

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 18

 **Chapter 17 Review Replies:**

 **thnw32:** I enjoy all forms of constructive feedback, and you are the one that's reviewed the most. So I just hope that as I continue to write the story, that you'll continue to enjoy it. Especially since it's already shaping up to be my longest story (with the only other two stories that are currently WIPs being a Legends of Tomorrow story, and a Disney Descendants story). And if there's anything that you would like to have happen in the story, please let me know, and I will be happy to try and work it in.

After the trio finalized the plans to have Klaus and Kol meet them at the Mystic Grill, Elena and Elijah headed back upstairs to get dressed. While Elena went with her typical casual clothing of a pair of jean shorts and a maroon tank top, Elijah opted to not go with his usual suit. At least not completely. Over the past three weeks of being with Elena, she and Rebekah had banded together and gotten Elijah some t-shirts and jeans. Going for slightly darker tones, and nothing with logos on the shirts, the two most important woman in his life had gotten him to break out of his shell a little bit, and to not be so buttoned up all the time. Those had actually been Rebekah's exact words when they had given him the bag of clothes that they had bought him. The pun at the end of her sentence being completely intended. And while Elijah hadn't gotten around to wearing any of the new clothes, today seemed like a good day to start. So when Elena turned to face Elijah after she was done changing her own clothes and saw that her boyfriend was pulling a suit jacket on over a dark blue t-shirt and pairing it with a dark blue pair of jeans, she was surprised and a little speechless.

"Elena, my dear, you and Rebekah bought me the clothes, remember? I know that I would be disappointed if you didn't wear something that I bought you, so I decided to give you the same curtesy that I would want if the situation were reversed." Elijah said with a smile as he crossed the room and pulled her into his arms.

"You just..." Elena started before losing her words and clearing her throat to try again. "I've never seen you look this relaxed. You look good." She finished while leaning up and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"You should call Caroline before we call Niklaus and Kol. Jeremy and I both told her that we would have you call her in the morning, and it's the other thing that was on Rebekah's list of things that need to be done today." Elijah said, clearing his own throat when Elena's compliment caught him by surprise.

"You're not used to people complimenting you, are you?" Elena asked with a smirk.

"No, I'm not. Especially when it's coming from someone that I love as much as I love you." Elijah replied.

"It hasn't even been a full 24 hours since we first told each other that we loved each other, and we are already completely comfortable saying it now." Elena commented, her smirk shifting to a loving smile.

"That probably has something to do with how long we kept it to ourselves, telling each other and others that it was too soon to be thinking it, let alone saying it." Elijah replied.

"You're probably right." She said with mischievous grin.

"Probably? That wounds me, Elena." He said as he placed a hand over his heart.

"You might be right?" She tried.

"Better. But still not an accurate statement."

"I'm not going to say what you want to hear."

"I have ways of making you admit defeat."

Elena's eyes widened at Elijah's words and she was moving away from him and towards the door before she even saw his hands moving towards her sides to start the ambush. She knew she couldn't outrun him. His most recent proof of that having been the day before, but that didn't stop Elena from trying anyway. She got to the top of the stairs before Elijah caught up with her and tossed her over his shoulder, smirking as she squealed and started hitting his back.

"ELIJAH MIKAELSON..." Elena started.

"Admit I was right, and I'll put you down." Elijah interrupted.

"No." Elena defied.

"Do you understand that if you don't admit it, I'll be forced to carry you like this all day, and that will make things extremely awkward when we meet up with my brothers. I don't really want to have your ass on display to Kol." Elijah warned.

"I'm shocked at how relaxed you look and sound, Brother. The clothes and attitude look good on you." Rebekah commented from the couch.

"If you don't _want_ to have my ass on display to your brothers, you don't have to. You can make the choice to. Put. Me. Down." Elena replied.

"Tell me I was right."

"Your ego doesn't need the boost, Mikaelson."

"While that is true, I highly doubt that it will be an often occurrence that I have the chance to hear that I'm right from my beautiful girlfriend. Please say it?"

"Fine." Elena muttered. "You were right." She continued. "Ass." She finished under her breath and Rebekah burst out laughing.

"Did you just call me an ass, darling?" Elijah asked as he, true to his word, placed her feet back on the floor.

"What would you do to me if I did?" Elena responded.

"I don't know. I've never been called an ass before." Elijah replied. "That term is usually reserved for Niklaus, or Kol." He said.

"If you two are done being disgustingly cute, we are going to need as much Vampire strength as we can get to defeat Mother, which means you need to call Caroline, Elena." Rebekah said as she held out Elena's phone.

"Why do you have my phone?" Elena asked as she crossed the room to take it from Rebekah's hand.

"It was on the table. You must have put it here last night before retiring to the bedroom." Rebekah said with a shrug.

"That would be fine and all, if Elijah hadn't brought me straight upstairs when we got home." Elena replied, a confused look settling on her features.

"Could you have left it here before going to pick Jeremy up last night?" Elijah asked, his relaxed demeanor quickly slipping behind his walls.

"I must have. You would have been able to sense if anyone else had been inside the apartment." Elena said, but Elijah wasn't as sure about her words as Elena seemed to be.

"I was focused on you, Elena. I wanted to make sure you got to sleep. If I sensed anything out of the ordinary, it was overshadowed by my concern for you." Elijah responded.

"Well, your text to Jeremy is the last outgoing message. And there's no notifications." Rebekah commented.

"Really Bekah? You looked through my phone?"

"I was curious."

With a shake of her head, Elena pulled up Caroline's number and hit the call button. As she held the phone to her ear, and waited for her friend to answer, Elena felt Elijah move behind her and she leaned back against his chest when he wrapped an arm around her waist. Elena tried to concentrate on listening to the ringing on the other end of the line, and not to Elijah's much too close presence, but he was making it extremely difficult. She briefly heard him tell Rebekah to go call their brothers, and while she was sure that Rebekah probably left, Elena was so distracted by Elijah that she didn't actually see her friend leave.

" **Hello?** "

"Caroline?" Elena asked.

" **Oh, hey 'Lena.** "

"Did I just wake you up?"

" **Yes and no. I've been drifting between being awake and asleep all night. Couldn't stop thinking about you, Tyler and Bonnie. I'm sorry for how I acted the last two weeks.** " Caroline said.

"It's not your fault. Like the last time, you were being compelled. I don't blame you, Caroline." Elena replied.

" **You mean when Damon first came to town?** "

"That's exactly what I mean. But listen, me, Elijah and Rebekah are planning on trying to take down Esther, and we could use your help." Elena said.

" **What can I do?** " Caroline asked.

"We need all of the vampire strength that we can get. Bekah is currently calling Klaus and Kol to ask them to meet us at the Mystic Grill later. Will you meet us there?" Elena replied.

" **I should really try and sort things out with Tyler before I see Klaus again.** " Caroline said slowly.

"I completely understand. I'll text you the time we're meeting, and if you've had a chance to talk to Tyler, or you change your mind in general, you are welcome to meet us there." Elena replied before biting her lower lip as Elijah pressed his lips to her neck.

" **Thank you for understanding, Elena. Talk to you later?** " Caroline asked.

"Of course, Care."

As soon as the call ended, Elena spun around in Elijah's arms and pressed her lips to his in a greedy kiss. Elijah responded happily and returned the kiss, but before he could deepen it, Elena pulled away and lightly hit his chest with the back of her hand.

"What was that for?" Elijah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What happened to you not being a torturous man?" Elena countered.

"It was one kiss on your neck. I could have done more." Elijah defended. "And you hadn't officially become my girlfriend when I said that before." He added in a husky voice directly into Elena's ear.

"It's amazing that you've never been called an ass before, _my dear_." Elena said with a playful scowl.

"I don't think it's amazing. I've never been this relaxed with a woman before. You bring it out of me, darling Elena." Elijah replied with a smirk.

"My mistake." She responded before moving towards the kitchen. "What do you want for breakfast?" She asked.

"Would it be terribly forward of me to say you?"

"Not forward, just... a little weird. Especially since it's not an emergency in which the only blood supply is mine."

"What if I told you that I am currently out of blood in the fridge?"

"I would say that you're losing your touch on making sure you never run out."

"I believe it would be more accurate to say that I've been highly distracted as of late and have not gotten a chance to get to the blood bank to acquire more blood."

"Let me rephrase then... what would you like for breakfast that isn't your living, breathing, human girlfriend?"

"I don't know. What is my living, breathing, human girlfriend in the mood for?"

"You are impossible, you know that?"

"And you love me all the more for it, darling."

"And cocky."

"Are you two done? We really do have things to get done." Rebekah asked as she returned to the living room.

"You can check one thing off of your list of things that need to be done today, Sister. Elena called Caroline." Elijah said.

"Pancakes. With chocolate chips." Elena replied.

"Come again?" Rebekah asked.

"I was answering Elijah's question of what I was in the mood for in the way of breakfast." Elena said.

"You always manage to burn the pancakes." Elijah pointed out.

"Which is why you always make them for me." Elena replied with a smile.

"I can't say no to you, Elena. Rebekah, would you like some pancakes as well?" Elijah asked as he moved into the kitchen, placing a kiss on Elena's forehead as he passed her and started pulling out the ingredients needed to make the pancakes.

"Sure, why not?" Rebekah replied. "Oh, and Jeremy is on his way over." She added.

"You might want to make enough for 4 of us, then." Elena commented as she got the dishes out of the cupboard and started setting the table.

It wasn't long before Jeremy got to the apartment and let himself in. Other than Elijah and Elena, Rebekah and Jeremy were the only ones that had keys, so unlike Rebekah's arrival that morning, they never knocked. As soon as the younger Gilbert got a whiff of the pancakes, he quickly took a seat across from Rebekah and placed a few pancakes on his plate.

"So... Bekah said that there's a movement against Esther?" Jeremy questioned.

"It's the only logical plan. For us to put a stop to what our mother has planned before she can enact that plan. I know that myself, Rebekah and Niklaus, at least, have very good reasons for wanting to stay alive, even if it's as being undead." Elijah replied, his eyes never straying from Elena's face.

"Dude, it's really unsettling to have you making bedroom eyes at my sister while we're eating." Jeremy commented.

"I would apologize, but it would ingenuine." Elijah replied, his gaze slipping to Jeremy as Elena tried to stifle a laugh and ducked her head to hide the smile.

"I keep telling them to cut the sickeningly cute couple-y stuff when we're around. They don't listen, Jer." Rebekah commented with a frown.

"We are you older siblings, we're supposed to embarrass you." Elena replied.

"Yes, in front of friends..." Jeremy retorted.

"We have the same group of friends, and none of them have complained." Elena countered.

"That's because Bonnie has been hauled up with Damon, Ric is wallowing in self-pity, and up until last night, Caroline was being compelled by Klaus. Stefan has been seen around town here and there with Katherine."

The last one made Elena choke a bit around a mouthful of pancakes and sputtered as she tried to clear her throat with a gulp of water. Elijah's reaction to the news that Katerina was in town wasn't much better. The fork in his hand was bent in half, and his eyes darkened with anger, and his vampire visage slipped out. He didn't want to think what her being in town meant for his relationship with Elena, because if there was anyone else other than Stefan Salvatore that Katerina Petrova was hung up on, it was him.

"When were they last seen together?" Elijah asked through clenched teeth.

"Matt texted me this morning saying that he saw them yesterday, while Elena and Bekah were out dress shopping. He knew that it was Katherine and not Elena because he was standing outside the Mystic Grill when he saw Stefan stop when he turned a corner and saw Elena and Bekah. Then after he passed them, he turned the corner behind him, and Matt saw him talking to Katherine. He also saw Bonnie and Damon together yesterday shortly before all of the stuff with Stefan and Katherine." Jeremy explained.

"So Damon and Bonnie have moved from keeping their- whatever you want to classify their being together as- a secret, to allowing themselves to actually be seen together? And Stefan is working with Katherine. This is just great." Elena said as she pushed away from the table and ran upstairs before she could start crying.

"Should I...?" Jeremy asked, looking between Elijah and Rebekah.

"No, Jeremy. I'll go talk to her." Elijah said as he excused himself from the table as well and followed his girlfriend.

"This isn't good, Jer." Rebekah commented.

"Why not? I mean, I know I'm pretty pissed off about Bonnie and Damon, but shouldn't Stefan without his humanity being with Katherine benefit you and Elena?" Jeremy asked.

"No, it doesn't benefit us. From what I understand of Katherine Pierce, there are only 2 men, well, 2 vampires, that she has remained hung up on. And while one of them is Stefan, the other is not Damon." Rebekah explained, giving Jeremy a pointed look.

"She's here to try and get Elijah back, isn't she?" Jeremy questioned.

"Most likely. Did Matt happen to say where Stefan and Katherine went?" Rebekah responded.

"They followed the car that you and Elena got into. But he had to get back to work, so he wasn't sure if they actually followed you two, or if they just headed in the same direction as you two." Jeremy replied.

"Honestly, I'm surprised that Katherine has the audacity to come to Mystic Falls with Klaus here. Hasn't she been running away from him for a few centuries?"

"5 centuries to be exact. But if she's here for Elijah, then being in the same town as Nik is worth the risk of him finding her."

"Let's hope that your brother's love for my sister far outweighs anything Katherine has planned. I wouldn't put it past her to try and abduct Elena to pretend to be her to try and fool Elijah."

"Let's hope."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"My dear, sweet, darling Elena, you have nothing to worry about. Katerina can't get in here, and even if she managed to get ahold of you to impersonate you, I would be able to tell the difference." Elijah said as he rubbed soothing circles on Elena's back once he joined her on the bed.

"She has made my life a living hell since I found out about her. And that was even before she actually showed up in town. She's ruthless and vindictive, Elijah. And she always seems to want what I have. First with Stefan, and now with you. Because you're why she's here, right? She wants you back?" Elena questioned as she turned onto her back so that she could look at Elijah.

"That is what Rebekah seems to think. But it doesn't matter what she wants Elena. I will go to her. I'm yours." Elijah said, his hand subconsciously resting on Elena's stomach.

"She's planning something Elijah, I can feel it. And I'm scared for the people that I care about." Elena said, her voice reflecting how defeated she felt while she placed her hand on top of his.

"Then when we meet with Niklaus and Kol later today, we will also discuss making sure your friends and family are safe from her. Although... keeping them safe might entail Kol being invited into your house." Elijah said. "And somehow convincing Bonnie to stay with Caroline." He added.

"Ric isn't stupid. He wouldn't need Kol to protect him." Elena said.

"It wasn't just Alaric that I was thinking of. Rebekah's apartment isn't safe for Jeremy, and since we only have one bedroom here, I don't think you would want your younger brother sleeping on the couch." Elijah said.

"Crap." Elena muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"Katherine has already been invited in to my house. It was back when she first got to town. Jenna invited her in, thinking it was me. So unless the owner of the house has changed since then, which I don't think it has, given that you could still get inside, she can get into the house. And she can get into Ric's loft, so he can't even stay there to keep himself safe."

"We'll figure something out to ensure everyone is safe. You have my word on that."

"I hope you're right on this one Elijah. I don't know what I would do if I lost anyone else."


	19. Chapter 19

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 19

By the time Elijah had gotten Elena to calm down enough to rejoined their siblings downstairs, Jeremy and Rebekah had finished eating and had cleaned up the kitchen. When Elena stood in the doorway of the kitchen, shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Elijah's hand rubbing gentle circles on her lower back, Rebekah came over and wrapped her friend in a hug, which Elena happily returned. Both the Mikaelson and Gilbert families had bad history with Katherine, so Rebekah had an inkling of how Elena was feeling about everything. It was only once the girls pulled apart that Elijah motioned for all of them to head to the living room.

"Okay, I know that there are things that we don't want to happen, but given the news that Katerina is in town, and working with at least Stefan, I think we need to put personal feelings aside, and make sure we are all safe from her. As it is, any vampire can walk into the building, and the only apartment that they can't get into is this one. I want to change that." Elijah explained.

"What are you talking about, Brother?" Rebekah asked, eyeing Elijah carefully.

"I think we need to push meeting with our brothers until tomorrow and spend today making sure that either you or I owe this building and have either Elena or Jeremy's name on paperwork." Elijah replied.

"Are you insane? Buying a whole building?" Rebekah questioned.

"It's not like I'm suggesting we buy a monument, Rebekah. It's an apartment building. Elena realized that Katerina has been invited into the Gilbert house, as well as Alaric Saltzman's loft. If we do some moving about, we can swap the other tenants of this building to the Gilbert, Forbes, Saltzman and Donovan residences and by one of us buying this building and putting Elena or Jeremy's name on the paperwork, we could get everyone that Elena and Jeremy care about somewhere that's safe from other Vampires. There would only be, at most 4 Vampires, and 1 Hybrid that are invited into the building." Elijah clarified.

"That would take a lot of man power, and a lot of compulsion." Jeremy commented.

"Would it not be worth it to ensure the safety of everyone involved?" Elijah countered.

"Who would be helping with all of the moving?" Rebekah asked.

"We all would. We could do it in stages, because if it all happens at once, Katerina and the Salvatore brothers would get suspicious." Elijah replied.

"Is this something that you want, Elena?" Jeremy asked, his eyes landing on his sister, wondering why she was being so quiet about all of this.

"It's a lot of work, yes, but Elijah wouldn't be suggesting it if it weren't a plausible solution that would keep everyone safe. It would put all of our loved ones under one roof, essentially, and by moving the current tenants of the building to our house, and our friends' houses, it would take away the invitations that Katherine and any other Vampires would have already been given at any of our homes. I want our friends and family to be safe, Jer." Elena replied.

"Do you think they would all agree to it?" Rebekah asked.

"I think so. And it would make planning our move against your mother easier, because we would all be in one place already." Elena said.

"Then let's do it." Jeremy said with a nod.

"We need to get everyone together to let them know what the plan is. So that will mean changing what we will be discussing with our brothers today." Rebekah commented, looking at Elijah.

"You are correct. My apologies." Elijah nodded.

"We will also have to talk to Tyler and Bonnie. Katherine has been invited into the Lockwood Mansion as well." Elena commented.

"I don't think we need to talk to Bonnie..." Jeremy said slowly.

"Jer, if there's even a possibility that Bonnie is being compelled by Damon, don't you want that knowledge that she didn't cheat on you of her own choice?" Elena asked.

"And she's a witch. If we can get her away from Damon, and get her to move in here, she could add another level of security to the building. A privacy spell, if you will, that would ensure any Vampire standing outside wouldn't be able to hear what is being said anywhere in the building." Rebekah added.

"You would be okay with living in the same building as my ex-girlfriend?" Jeremy asked, his eyes wide.

"She's Elena's best friend. And I know that, despite your anger towards her, you still care deeply for her. I'd like to think I'm secure enough in our relationship that I wouldn't mind it too much." Rebekah replied.

"Elena, my dear, do you think you would be able to invite Niklaus and Kol in? I know you said earlier this morning that you weren't, but I think this discussion should be done here rather than at the Mystic Grill." Elijah said softly.

"If it helps keep the rest of my loved ones safe, then yes. And we would need to invite them in if everything goes to plan, anyway." Elena replied. "Better to extend an olive branch in good faith now than hold off until after everything else. And we would need as much help with moving everyone as we can get." She added.

"Okay, since everyone here is on board, then we should probably get everyone else here to talk through everything." Jeremy commented.

"Good idea. Jer, can you call Tyler and Matt? Rebekah, Elijah, if you two could get ahold of Klaus and Kol, and then I'll call Caroline and Alaric?" Elena suggested.

"Are you sure you want to call Ric?" Jeremy asked.

"He and I need to talk sooner or later. Better if it's sooner, and before school starts." Elena said with a shrug.

As everyone agreed to who they were contacting, Elena headed upstairs. She didn't want to be struggling to hear Alaric over Jeremy, Elijah and Rebekah. Upon reaching the bedroom, Elena closed the door and walked over to the bed before sitting down in the middle and pulling up Alaric's contact. As she stared at his name, her thumb hovered over the call button. She hadn't seen or talked to him in 3 weeks, and she was nervous as to how this would go. Taking a deep breath, she hit the call button and put the phone to her ear.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

The house felt empty without Jeremy and Elena around. Over the last few weeks since he had last seen her, Alaric had begrudgingly gotten used to Elena not being there, but the times that Jeremy wasn't there, the house was just too big. Having decided to move back to his loft, Alaric had spent the past hour going through the house and packing up his things. It was as he was lingering outside Elena's bedroom door, imagining her sitting on her bed, talking idly to Bonnie and Caroline, being a normal teenage girl, that Alaric's phone rang. Pulling the device from his pocket, his heart skipped a beat when he saw Elena's name and photo flash across the screen.

"Elena?" Alaric asked.

" **Hi Ric.** " Her voice was small, and she sounded nervous.

"Is everything okay?"

" **Not really. Katherine is back in town, and she's working with Stefan. Ric... we have a plan to keep everyone safe, but I need you to come over to Elijah's apartment, so we can tell everyone together.** " Elena said, hoping he would agree.

"Elena, is that really a good idea? The last time we saw each other... the last time we talked, you made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me." Alaric replied.

" **First of all, that's not true Ric, and you know it. I've been staying with Elijah the past 3 weeks so that you and I could both have some space to clear our heads of what happened. That doesn't mean I want nothing to do with you, or that I've stopped caring about you. Parents and their children fight. That's no different than step-parents and their step-children. You're still my step-father. You're still my friend. I want you to be safe, but neither your loft, nor the house, are safe with Katherine in town. Please come over.** " Elena said.

"Okay. Text me the address and I'll be there soon." Alaric replied with a sigh.

" **Thank you, Ric.** "

With that, the call ended. Not a minute later, his phone dinged with an incoming text from Elena containing the address of Elijah's apartment. Alaric wasn't stupid. He knew that there was a huge probability that Elena had come to see Elijah's apartment as her own as well. And if she had, then she purposefully didn't say that on the phone, and he appreciated that she hadn't. They both knew that if she had said it, it would have been rubbing it in his face that she was living with someone he didn't like. Taking one last look around the house, Alaric grabbed his keys and headed out.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Elena hung up and let out a sigh. Ric was coming over, so that was a good sign. Or at least a step in the right direction. She really hoped that he would be on board with the plan. It wasn't just so Elena knew that her friends were safe, but it would ensure that everyone knew that everyone else was safe. It would probably take a little bit of time to adjust to her and all of her friends essentially living together, but she, Caroline, Matt, Tyler and Bonnie had all grown up together, and even though Jeremy was younger, he had always been included in their group as well. They would get to be one big, happy family that would be able to have each other's backs. Elena knew that it was a big undertaking to get an apartment building full of people to move to other places, but at least they weren't displacing the other tenants of the building. It was a house swap. Keep the current tenants of the building safe and ensure that her loved ones were safe.

Opting to send a text to Caroline giving her the change of plans and pleading with her best friend to come over, Elena headed back downstairs, hoping that the others had as much success as she had. She was surprised to find Matt already there, and when the commotion at the front door broke through her thoughts, she glanced over and saw a disgruntled looking Klaus and Kol glaring at their older brother. Leaning against the banister, Elena grinned at them.

"Aw, what's wrong, boys?" She asked.

"Let us in, love." Klaus growled. He wouldn't hurt her, but her taunting wasn't helping his mood any.

"Niklaus..." Elijah warned.

"Fine, sorry. Elena, please let us in." Klaus corrected.

"Come on in." She said with a smiled as she walked down the rest of the stairs and walked over towards Elijah, only to be stopped by Kol.

"How are you feeling, Elena?" Kol asked.

"Stressed because of everything, but physically, I'm fine. The blood Elijah gave me last night took away the bruise and the pain that Finn caused." Elena said, giving him a grateful smile.

"Good." Kol said with a nod before joining the others in the living room, purposefully squeezing between Rebekah and Jeremy before throwing an arm around each other their shoulders.

"What did Alaric say?" Elijah asked.

"He's coming. Other than Ric, we're just waiting on Caroline and Tyler." Elena replied as her phone dinged.

 **Tyler and I are on our way. What's going on? – Caroline**

 **Everything will be explained once the two of you, and Ric, get here. – Elena**

 **Who all is there? – Caroline**

 **Me, Elijah, Jeremy, Rebekah, Matt, Kol and Klaus. – Elena**

 **Why is Klaus going to be there? – Caroline**

 **I promise, you'll understand once you're here. We'll explained everything. – Elena**

 **Fine. Be there soon. – Caroline**

"Caroline and Tyler are on their way." Elena said.

"Am I late?"

"Not at all, Alaric. Please come in." Elijah said when Elena turned around and couldn't find anything to say. "We're just waiting on Miss Forbes and Mr. Lockwood before we begin." He added.

When Alaric stepped inside, his eyes went straight to Elena. Jeremy had been right, he looked terrible, and that made Elena feel horrible. She had made the decision for both of them that they needed space to clear their heads, and she hadn't even told him that she had made the decision. Hell, she wasn't even sure if Jeremy had mentioned that's what she had done. The times that Jeremy had come over to hang out with her, Elijah and Rebekah, they hadn't talked about Ric much. And now she was left wishing that they hadn't left things as they had 3 weeks ago.

"Ric, I..." Elena started, but stopped when Alaric pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry Elena. I never should have acted the way I did. And I hate that my actions pushed you away." Alaric whispered.

"It's okay Ric. Things happen..." Elena said, trailing off at the end.

"So, what's this little get together about?" Alaric asked as he gave Elena a quick kiss on the top of her head before moving away from her and more towards the living room. "And why is _he_ here?" He added, pointing towards Klaus.

"Believe it or not Ric, Klaus helped keep Elena safe last night." Jeremy replied.

"'Believe it or not'? I'm not that horrible of a person." Klaus said with a frown.

"Except that you are, Nik. Pretty regularly." Kol commented, flashing a bright smile from where he still sat between Rebekah and Jeremy.

"What happened last night?" Alaric asked, his eyes wide as he turned back to Elena.

"Nothing that you have to concern yourself Ric. It was all taken care of last night." Elena said, sending a glare at Jeremy.

"Sorry." The younger Gilbert muttered.

"Elena, tell me what happened." Alaric said. "Please." He added.

"She was forced to meet with my mother, and my older brother grabbed her arm. Niklaus and Kol got Finn to let Elena go and got her back to me." Elijah explained.

"And none of you thought that was something that I should be made aware of? I'm her step-father." Alaric said looking between Elena, Jeremy and Elijah.

"I asked them not to tell you, Alaric. Elijah gave me some of his blood, and it healed the bruise that Finn left on my arm, and any pain that was accompanying it. There was nothing to tell you." Elena said.

"Okay, we're here. What is going on?" Caroline asked as she strode into the apartment, Tyler on her heels, looking anywhere but at Klaus.

"Caroline..." Klaus said, but seeing Elena's small shake of the head, didn't continue.

"Is anyone going to tell us what's going on here?" Matt asked.

"To start off with... Katherine is back in town, and she's working with Stefan. There is a very good chance that they are working together to get between Elijah and me. And even if Stefan isn't trying to get me back, we are pretty sure that Katherine is trying to get Elijah back. The reason you are all here is because Katherine has, multiple times, succeeded in making the people closest to me believe that she is me. She's been invited into my house, Alaric's loft, and even Tyler's house. But unfortunately, there are more people that I care about than there are Originals that I trust to any extent to keep you all safe from her. So we- me, Elijah, Rebekah and Jeremy- have come up with a plausible solution that keeps all of us safe from Katherine, and at this moment, Daman and Stefan." Elena explained, turning to Elijah so that he could continue.

"Let me preface this by saying that the idea we came up with is an extreme one, but it will help protect not only the people in this room, but the rest of the tenants in this building. And we will need everyone's help to ensure everything goes smoothly." Elijah said. "As of this morning, when Jeremy informed us that you saw Katherine with Stefan, Mr. Donovan, I have been thinking of either myself, or Rebekah buying the building, and putting either Elena or Jeremy's name on the paperwork. Because, as it is, any vampire can walk into the building, and the only unit that is, in any way, protected, is this one. If the building were to be bought by myself or Rebekah, and Elena or Jeremy's name were to be on the deed, then they would be able to control who is invited in." He continued. "To give all of you protection, we came to the decision that the best course of action was to move all of you in here, while moving the tenants of the building into your homes. It would give the homes that Katherine, and the Salvatore brothers, have been invited into back the protection from Vampires." He finished.

"Wouldn't that just tip them all off?" Tyler asked.

"If it all happened at once. We would do it slowly and efficiently. It would be all hands on deck." Elijah replied.

"Are there enough units for all of us?" Caroline questioned.

"Yes, and if we are able to get to Bonnie, and figure out what the hell has been going on with her and Damon, there would be a unit for her as well. And having a witch living here would help. She could place a privacy spell on the building to ensure that whatever is talked about in the building by all of us, especially when we start working on stopping Esther's plan, no Vampires outside the building would be able to hear what we're saying. Finn, Katherine, Damon and Stefan would be completely clueless." Elena replied.

"And what about my mom? And Tyler's mom?" Caroline asked.

"Sheriff Forbes would be welcome to move in as well." Elijah said. "As for Mayor Lockwood, that would be up to her." He said.

"She wouldn't move." Tyler replied.

"Would you be against her being compelled to move?" Elijah asked.

"If it keeps her safe, then no, I'm not against it." Tyler said.

"I take it there will be a lot of compulsion happening to ensure this goes as quickly and quietly as we would like it to, Brother?" Kol asked.

"Yes. And since that much compulsion could take a lot out of us, we will all need to pitch in. And that means, stopping Mother will be taking the back burner. We will still discuss it, but not as actively as we will be once this is all settled." Elijah replied.

"It's ambitious, but if it keeps people, other than just us, safe, then I'm in." Matt said.

Slowly but surely the rest of the group agreed. When Alaric was the only one that hadn't voiced his opinion one way or another, everyone turned to look at him, but he had moved to the window and was looking out onto the town. He wasn't sure how he felt about the idea of seeing Elena and Elijah together every day. But he knew that if he didn't go along with this plan, the divide that had been wedged between him and Elena would only widen, and he could lose her forever. Or the opposite, which would be worse, Elena could lose him. He didn't want her to lose anyone else.

"Okay. If this is the only way to keep everyone safe, then I'll go along with it." Alaric said. "But if at any point, another solution comes along, I say we reevaluate everything and go forward with whatever solution is the best." He added.

"An ultimatum, Ric? Really?" Elena asked.

"It's not an ultimatum, Elena. It's a condition to me agreeing to this. Because looking at it from an outside perspective, we are talking about uprooting almost every single person in this room, _and_ uprooting everyone else who already lives in this building." Alaric replied.

"It's a reasonable request, my dear." Elijah said as he came to Elena's side and placed a hand on her lower back.

"Fine. Request accepted. If another solution comes along, we'll consider which solution is better." Elena said before turning around and hurrying upstairs.

"Bloody hell. Caroline, come with me." Rebekah said as she stood up and took the other blonde's hand to follow Elena upstairs.


	20. Chapter 20

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 20

As Rebekah and Caroline went to talk to Elena, the guys were left in the living room, trying to figure out what to do. Elijah and Alaric were staring each other down, while Klaus, Kol, Matt, Tyler and Jeremy looked between the two to see which one of them would break first. It was silently decided between the 5 of them that given Elijah's millennia of years under his belt, that Alaric would be the one to break. But when the door upstairs slammed shut, all of the men winced.

"Is there something going on that we don't know about?" Tyler asked.

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen Elena like that. Especially towards Ric." Matt agreed.

"There's been some tension over the last few weeks." Jeremy said.

"What could have happened that would cause this much tension?" Matt asked.

"You want to take this one, Ric? Since it was your ego that got in the way?" Jeremy inquired, looking over at his sister's step-father.

"Not particularly." Alaric replied.

"Well, it's not my story to tell, nor is it Elijah's." Jeremy countered.

"And I don't have to talk about what happened if I don't want to." Alaric responded.

"That sounds very immature." Tyler commented.

"It's embarrassing." Alaric admitted.

"Your ego getting in the way of logical thinking is embarrassing?" Jeremy questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"If Alaric doesn't want everyone to know the specifics of what happened, you shouldn't try to guilt trip him into saying it." Elijah said. "Especially since he is your guardian, Jeremy." He added.

"Thank you Elijah." Alaric said.

"Although, your attitude towards Elena is not helping the situation get resolved."

"Now you're lecturing me?"

"Has it dawned on you just how much keeping her distance from you has hurt Elena? She's already been through so much, and to have what happened between the two of you thrown on top... I don't like seeing the woman I love in so much emotional pain and have there be nothing that I can do to help her." Elijah said.

"What did you just say?" Alaric asked, his eyes narrowing.

"You heard me. And I'm not going to keep it a secret. Not anymore. I love Elena, and you hurt her, and are continuing to hurt her by acting the way that you have been acting since you got here."

"I'm trying to be a reasonable adult about the situation as a whole. A situation that we wouldn't all be in- that _Elena_ wouldn't be in- if she hadn't been involved with Vampires in the first place." Alaric said.

"Except her life was surrounded by the supernatural from the moment of her conception, simply because of who her biological father is, and what his family has been doing since 1864. And because of the fact that she is a doppelgänger, Elena herself is a supernatural being. There was no way she would have made it out of this life without the supernatural elements of her life being revealed." Elijah argued. "And do I have to remind you of your own secondary job? If your wife had kept Elena, and you had raised her as your step-daughter from the beginning, how would you have kept being a Vampire Hunter from her? Or Isobel's fascination with the supernatural from impacting Elena's life?" He asked.

"I only became a Vampire Hunter after I thought a Vampire had killed Isobel." Alaric said.

"Well... technically, Damon did kill her." Jeremy inputted.

"Not helping Jeremy." Alaric replied.

"Like it or not, Alaric, Elena's life was bound to be impacted by the supernatural from the beginning. It just took 17 years for it to happen. She has made her choice to be with me, and I will continue to do everything I can to keep her safe, but in order for her to be truly happy, she needs you to stop treating her like a child and respect her decisions. And as for the situation we are currently in regarding Katarina, it has nothing to do with Elena being involved with Vampires. Katarina would have come after Elena no matter what, simply because she would have seen impersonating Elena as yet another survival tactic to staying off of Niklaus' radar." Elijah explained. "Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I'm going to go check on the women and make sure everything is going to be okay."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Rebekah hadn't meant to slam the door when she and Caroline got up to the bedroom, but after it happened, she felt like it was a good measure. Taking in the sight before them, both Caroline and Rebekah's hearts broke for their friend. Elena was curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed, and the sniffling indicated that she had been crying. With a quick look to each other, the two blonde vampires quickly moved to the bed and each took a spot on either side of the brunette.

"Why does Ric have to be such an ass?" Elena asked in a small voice as she uncurled herself and pulled her knees to her chest.

"Elena, what happened between the two of you?" Caroline questioned. She needed to know what had happened to be able to answer her friend's question.

"Over the summer, with it just being him, me and Jer, Ric got the image in his head of us being a family and not needing anyone else. He had truly started to see me as his step-daughter, and so when Elijah brought me home the night of my party, I ended up falling asleep on the drive home, so he had to carry me inside. When Ric saw me asleep in Elijah's arms, something snapped in his head. He got overly protective. When we stopped by the house a couple days later to pick up the necklace that Stefan had given me, since it belonged to Esther, and it's Rebekah's, Ric was acting like he was _in love_ with me, when really it was just his twisted and skewed perception of who was part of our family. He lashed out verbally to Elijah, and things just kind of fell apart." Elena said taking a deep breath as more tears formed in her eyes.

"Elena has spent that last 3 weeks here with Elijah to give herself and Alaric both the chance to clear their heads, but she hasn't spoken to him, or seen him, in 3 weeks, and based on his attitude downstairs, 3 weeks hasn't been enough time." Rebekah finished.

"Maybe space and time isn't what is needed here." Caroline suggested.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked.

"Maybe the reason Ric is acting like an ass is because you've separated yourself personal life from him, so he hasn't had a chance to see it and start to accept it. Maybe this plan of yours, to get everyone that you love and care about into this building will be exactly what is needed to start to get things back on track between the two of you." Caroline explained. "It was clear, even before we all found out that he had been married to your birth mom, that he adored you, and saw you as a daughter. That tidbit just heightened that feeling. So it's possible that seeing you with Elijah, as well as just seeing you every day at school could help."

"Caroline is right, Elena. You haven't given Alaric the chance to come to terms with the fact that you are with my brother. He hasn't seen it, so, in his mind, he can still imagine that it's not real. Only for that image to come crashing down all over again when you do see him." Rebekah said.

"You just agreed with me." Caroline said.

"Yes well, we have more in common than our looks." Rebekah replied.

"So what you're both saying is that it was wrong of me to essentially move out, and force a separation between Ric and I?" Elena asked.

"Not wrong, per se, more of a misguided notion that you thought was for the best but has turned out to only have done more damage." Caroline replied.

"What should I do?" Elena asked.

"You and Alaric need to sit down before school starts and really hash things out. Because I can guarantee that if you two don't talk within the next few days before the first day of school, that everyone in your history class will be able to feel the tension between you, and it could start some pretty ugly rumors that could ruin you both." Rebekah replied.

"Which is exactly what I didn't want to happen we had thought that he was in love with me." Elena said with a groan as she fell backwards and let her head hit the pillow before frowning up at the ceiling.

"You don't have to go through this alone, Elena." Caroline said. "We're here for you, and I'm sure Elijah is as well." She added.

"And if for whatever reason my brother isn't here for you, I'll kick his arse for you." Rebekah said.

"I assure you, Sister, that won't be necessary." Elijah said from the doorway.

"How long have you been standing there?" Rebekah asked.

"Long enough. May I have a moment alone with my girlfriend?" He asked.

"Of course. We'll be downstairs, knocking some sense into Ric." Caroline said as she pulled Elena into a sitting position and gave her a hug, which Rebekah joined in on.

"Thank you. Both of you." Elena said.

"Us girls need to stick together. There's three of us and seven of them." Caroline replied, and Rebekah grinned.

"I can easily take on three of them." Rebekah commented.

Elijah cleared his throat, and just like that, Elena was sitting alone on the bed. She was staring at the comforter, and only faintly heard the door click shut before feeling the bed dip as Elijah sat down next to her. When he sat back against the pillows and held his arms open for her, Elena happily let herself fall into his embrace. They didn't say anything for a few minutes, just sat there with Elijah running his fingers through Elena's hair after he had taken her ponytail out.

"Caroline and Rebekah think I went about dealing with what happened the wrong way." Elena admitted.

"Do you agree with them?" Elijah asked.

"I can see where they're coming from with it. They think that the reason Ric was acting out so rudely downstairs is because I didn't give him a chance to really see us together and to get used to the idea of you being in my life." Elena explained.

"I'm sure that's not all they said." Elijah gently prompted.

"No, it's not. They said that if this plan works, and we get everyone that I care about into the building, that it'll give Ric a chance to see us together, and hopefully help him come to terms with it." Elena said. "And that he and I need to sit down with each other before school starts and hash everything out, or else the tension between us could turn into some vicious rumors that could end his career." She added.

"I have to say that I agree with them full heartedly, my darling Elena. I hate seeing you like this, and since the tension between the two of you is causing you to be this distraught, then you should sit down with him and really talk things through." Elijah commented.

"That's what they were taking about when they said they would be there for me, and that you would be there for me too." Elena offered.

"Ah, then my sister's words make much more sense now." Elijah said with a smile.

After Elena retuned Elijah's smile, the couple lapsed into silence once again. Elena had repositioned herself so that her head was rest on Elijah's chest, and she had one arm resting on his stomach as she drew patterns on his chest with her fingertip. That was when another part of the plan dawned on her.

"You know... if this plan works out, I wouldn't have to stop staying here every night. And even if I wasn't physically in this bed with you, we wouldn't have to go very far to be with each other." Elena commented as she glanced up at her boyfriend.

"You continue to be a lovely little minx, Elena Gilbert." Elijah said while tilting Elena's chin up and leaning down to press his lips to hers.

The shift in their position had happened before Elena could react to it, but she didn't mind how they were now. Elena simply wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck and pulled him down closer to her. With Elijah surrounding her, the fact that their friends and family were downstairs waiting for them drifted away from Elena's mind, and she lost herself in Elijah's lips. Much too soon, and to Elena's displeasure, Elijah broke the kiss and moved them to their previous position causing Elena to scowl at him.

"I might be a minx, but you Elijah Mikaelson, are a tease." Elena grumbled.

"Well, aren't we a pair, then?" Elijah questioned with a laugh.

"You wouldn't be laughing if I had done to you what you just did to me." Elena replied.

"You're quite right, my darling. And I promise to finish what I started." Elijah said. "After our guests leave." He added in a whisper.

"Can't you just go downstairs and let them know that we'll let them know when the plan is put into motion so that we can get back to what we were doing?" Elena asked.

"That might be the most selfish thing I've heard come from your lips." He commented with an amused smirk.

"We've been together for 3 weeks now Elijah, and every time we get close to having sex, something happens that requires our immediate attention. There's only so much we can do by ourselves before we explode from sexual frustration." Elena groaned.

"And you are far too pretty to have that happen. I promise you Elena, we will have our time." Elijah said pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Why don't you take a nap darling? I'll go back downstairs to disperse our guests, and then I will be back to join you." He suggested.

"I don't like sleeping without you. I've grown way too accustomed to your presence. It helps me sleep." Elena said with a frown.

"I won't be long my dear."

"Are you ever going to tell me what you are wanting to say in place of that?"

"Eventually, but 3 weeks is still too soon. And I promise, you'll know what I've been wanting to say once it's said."

"How long should I anticipate waiting?"

"A good few years, Elena."

"Years? Come on, Elijah. Please tell me?"

"It would ruin the impact that I intend it to have when I first say it."

"Will I like the change?"

"I'd like to think you will."

"You aren't going to give me any hints, are you?"  
"Not at all."

"Smug ass."

"Again with calling me an ass, Elena. I'm starting to believe that is how you actually think of me." Elijah said.

"Would it make you feel better if I tell you that it's not how I see you, but that you have an amazing one?" Elena asked.

"Maybe." Elijah replied.

"Elijah... honey, I don't think you're an ass. You act like one sometimes, but I don't think you're an ass. But from what I've seen of it, you've got an amazing ass." Elena said with a grin.

"Is that a request to see all of it, darling?" Elijah asked.

"Perhaps. Get everyone to leave, and I'll let you know." She said before rolling away from him and pulling the pillow that Elijah usually slept on under her head.

Elijah smirked at Elena's actions. Moving so that he was directly behind her, Elijah draped one arm over her waist and leaned down to kiss her neck.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" He asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about honey. I was simply taking your suggestion to take a nap. And since you have to go downstairs to send our guests away, and I can't go to sleep without you, I went for the next best thing: your pillow." She replied giving him a glance of her shoulder.

"I'd like it to be made known that I don't believe that for one second. But if it's what you're going with, then I'll accept it." He said with one more kiss to her shoulder. "I'll be back shortly." He added.

"Okay." She replied as her eyes drifted shut.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

True to their word, Caroline and Rebekah laid in on Alaric once they got downstairs. It didn't take long for Matt and Tyler to duck out when the berating of their history teacher by two very upset blonde vampires started. Klaus and Kol, on the other hand, stuck around, enjoying the show. Jeremy stayed quiet as he watched the scene play out in front of him. He had already given Alaric a piece of his mind because of this.

"Who are you trying to punish, Ric? Elena, Elijah, or yourself?" Caroline asked after having a taken a break from her ranting on Alaric, and Rebekah had come to a stop as well.

"I'm not trying to punish anyone, Caroline. I'm just wanting what's best for Elena." Alaric replied.

"And you think that you are what's best for her?" Rebekah asked.

"No! But I also don't think she should be with a vampire, period. Even if she's considered a supernatural being due to being a doppelgänger, she's still human. If she were to get seriously hurt, and she's around any of you, the first instinct that every single one of you would have would be to feed because of the smell of blood. It would be an afterthought that she's your friend, but by then, it could be too late." Alaric explained. He was getting really pissed off with being the bad guy here.

"And if she were to be turned?" Caroline asked. "By her own choice, if any of us turned her, would that change anything?" She continued.

"But she doesn't want to be a vampire." Alaric argued.

"Humor us. If Elena were to change her mind, and asked to be turned into a vampire, would that change how you act towards her?" Rebekah questioned.

"You're seriously entertaining this 'what if' scenario?" When Alaric was met with silence and expectant looks, he sighed. "She is my step-daughter. She will always be my step-daughter. And if she were to ever change her mind and want to become a vampire, it would take me some time to adjust to the change, but I wouldn't stop loving her because of it. I wouldn't stop wanting what's best for her." He said.

"Then how is that any different than trying to accept her wanting to be in a relationship with Elijah? She made a choice. She got herself out of a toxic situation with Stefan and Damon, and she chose to be with someone that puts her needs before his own. Puts her wants before his own. Elijah is good for Elena. He looks out for her without pushing his own ideals onto her. He is everything a father, or step-father, could want for their daughter to find in a man. The only issue you have isn't even that he's a mere vampire, but that he's an Original, and that makes him unpredictable to you. But you should know by know that our family puts each other, and those that we love, before our own interests, and we protect each other." Rebekah said. "And we have accepted Elena into our family, so between Elijah, me, Nik and Kol, no harm will come to her." She added.

"I'm sorry that I can't take you at your word, Rebekah, I truly am. But Elijah has broken his word to Elena ending up with her being in danger more than once. Klaus drained her of her blood, _and_ killed Elena's aunt and my girlfriend, in the same ritual to be able to break a curse put on him to bind his werewolf side." Alaric argued.

"All of that was done before Elijah and Elena got together." Caroline pointed out.

"So, what? We're all just suppose to forgive and forget that they happened?" Alaric asked.

"That's not what they are saying, Ric." Jeremy replied.

"Then please, someone explain to me what exactly I'm expected to do in this situation." Alaric demanded.

"Leave the past in the past and move on from it." Caroline said.

"Move on? Klaus killed Jenna and drained Elena of her blood 3 months ago!" Alaric exclaimed.

"Watch it with the yelling, please. You're in a room of vampires. We have sensitive hearing." Caroline chided as she winced.

"Look mate, if you have an issue with what I did in the ritual, take your anger out on me. Don't blame my brother for what I did to Elena. The only reason that Elijah went back on his word that night was because I told him I would reunite him with our siblings. And I can assure you that every instance through the 1000 years that he's been a vampire, that he has only ever gone back on his word when it comes to family." Klaus said.

"Nik is right. If Elijah went back on his word to Elena, it was because of our family. Family means the world to us, Alaric. And while we are Vampires, we aren't perfect. We will make mistakes, as everyone does, but we are the safest place for Elena to be. And she wants to be able to extend that protection to you and the rest of the people that she cares about." Rebekah said.

"I do hope everything is going okay down here, as I would hate to have to tell Elena that she lost someone else in her life. Literally or figuratively." Elijah said from the base of the stairs.

"Well, none of us have attacked him for being a ginormous idiot, so that's something. Matt and Tyler left though." Caroline said as she moved to sit down next to Jeremy on the couch.

"And did you and Rebekah relay your suggestion to Alaric? Because I agree with it, and Elena understands how it could help." Elijah inquired.

"We haven't. Not yet. We were trying to get him to see reason first." Rebekah replied.

"I'm standing right here." Alaric grumbled.

"Yes, we are aware of that, Ric." Caroline responded.

"And have Miss Forbes and my sister gotten you to see reason, Alaric?" Elijah asked.

"Depends on what reason they are wanting me to see." Alaric replied.

"We're trying to get you to see that Elena choosing to be with Elijah, and you needing to come to terms with that, isn't all that different than the 'what if' scenario of Elena choosing to become a vampire, and you coming to terms with that." Caroline said.

"I see how the situations are similar." Alaric said with a sigh.

"And... what are you going to do about it?" Rebekah asked.

"I take it the 'what if' scenario directly ties to the idea that you two told Elena about?" Alaric responded.

"It is." Caroline said with a nod.

"What's the idea?" He asked.

"That the forced separation for the two of you wasn't what was needed in this situation. You need to see Elena with Elijah on a more regular basis. Because if you don't see them together, then your mind still tells you that it's not real, only to that to crumble apart when you do see them. So all of us living in this apartment building together, although in different units, you would see them together and you would be able to come to terms with their relationship." Rebekah explained. "Just as if she were to one day decide to become a vampire, you would have to see her as a vampire to come to terms with that fact." She continued.

"Because you seem to have the 'if-I-don't-see-it-I-won't-believe-it' mentality going on, Ric, and it's not going to help make things better between you and Elena." Caroline added in. "Also, the two of you need to sit down and really talk things through, or else rumors will undoubtedly fly around school, and that could ruin both of your reputations."

"Okay."


	21. Chapter 21

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 21

 **A/N:** After 20 chapters of will they, won't they, of Elena and Elijah not having sex, it's finally happening in this chapter. I will put in a header and footer of sorts to block off the actual mature content, so if you don't want to read that section, you are welcome to jump ahead, and I will do my best to not make it necessary to the rest of the story for you to read the mature stuff, even with the rating. If you would like to see what I mean by this, scroll through chapter 4 of my Legends of Tomorrow story, Life Without Love Is No Life Worth Living.

Six pairs of eyes were set on Alaric at his single word answer. Caroline was grinning at him, and Elijah was nodding at the other man's agreement to everything. It made Elijah realize that there were some things that he couldn't do to help Elena, but Rebekah and Caroline could. Jeremy stood from his spot on the couch and went over to give Alaric a hug and the others in the room heard the sigh of relief from the younger Gilbert. At least this was a start to making things better.

"Now that we've all come to an agreement on this, I need to ask that you all head home and start discreetly packing." Elijah said.

"I'm actually going to find Matt and Tyler and tell them that everything has been agreed to. Just so they are caught up on what happened after they left." Caroline said.

"I'll go with you." Jeremy offered.

"As will I. I need to get some fresh air." Rebekah commented.

"Nik and I will head back to the mansion and keep an eye on Finn and Mother. And we'll report back with anything that we find." Kol offered.  
"You keep an eye on Finn and Mother. I'm going to keep an eye on Katerina and the Salvatore Brothers." Klaus argued.

"But Mother and Finn are at your house." Kol said. "How about you keep an eye on them, and I'll keep an eye on _Katerina_ and the Salvatore Brothers?" He taunted.

"I don't care which one of you keeps an eye on our mother and brother, and which one of you keeps an eye on Katerina, Stefan and Damon. Just go do it." Elijah said with an exasperated sigh.

Once Klaus and Kol were gone, Elijah turned to Alaric. The two of them leveled each other a gaze before Elijah broke the stare down and moved towards the kitchen.

"You have nothing to say?" Alaric asked.

"Not particularly. I'm pretty sure that Rebekah and Caroline said everything that needed to be said." Elijah replied.

"I would have thought you would have your own two sense worth to add." Alaric commented.

"To be perfectly honest with you, Alaric, everything that Rebekah and Caroline said has already been said by me and Elena. You just didn't want to hear it from us. And they presented the exact same information that we did, just in a different way." Elijah said with a sigh.

"I take it I'm not your favorite person in the world right now, am I?" Alaric asked.

"No, because that would be Elena. You just scrape into the top 10 though. Because it is, despite everything my siblings and I have put each other through in the past millennium, aside from Finn, the siblings that were present today are in the top 5 with Elena, and Jeremy." Elijah responded.

"Fair enough." Alaric said with a nod.

"You need to give Elena more credit, you know. She's an intelligent girl. If she didn't think that it was the right choice for herself to be with me, we wouldn't be together." Elijah commented, eyeing the other man to gauge his reaction.

"I know. I guess it's just the matter of, I feel like I just got her, just found her, and now I'm going to lose her." Alaric admitted.

"I can't begin to understand the connection between a father and their child, especially given the horrible example my own father set before my siblings and I. But unless you push her away, or something so horrible happens that she feels she can no longer trust you to be in her life, and she cuts you out like she did with the Salvatore's, you won't lose Elena." Elijah explained as he grabbed a bag of blood and poured it into a glass for himself. He would have to ask Rebekah when his fridge was restocked.

"Have you fed from Elena?" Alaric asked, eyeing the glass of blood.

"I've accidentally tasted her blood once, and we have come to an understanding and agreement that, unless it's an absolute emergency, I won't feed from her. Because of my feelings for her, and her returned feelings for me, her blood would be too much of a pull for me to feed from her." Elijah replied.

"And if she were to ask you to turn her, would you?" Alaric questioned.

"I've told her that I want her to live as full of a human life as she can before she makes that kind of decision. But yes, if down the road, she were to ask me to turn her, I would. But we need to get everyone she loves safely moved into this building and put a stop to my mother's plan before that subject gets brought up again."

"And what is your mother's plan?"

"Elena doesn't want you to know that. She doesn't want the information to be relayed to the Salvatore brothers, and given your friendship with Damon, she doesn't want to put you in the position to have to keep something as big as what my mother plans from him."

"How does that make any sense?"

"Elena doesn't want Damon and Stefan to know what my mother is planning. She feels that if you were to know, that you would feel obligated, due to your friendship, to tell them. If they were to know, there would be a very large chance that they would try and protect her from it, which would ultimately end up with Elena being in even more danger. If they know, and we are able to stop my mother, then we could potentially lose Elena forever. She doesn't want to risk her own safety by the Salvatore's finding out. So she doesn't want you to know."

"Still not following."

"If the Salvatore's find out, they will come after Elena, and will be completely reckless in doing so. And Elena could get hurt or worse, if that were to happen. She doesn't want to cause any unnecessary harm or worry to anyone if my siblings and I are able to put a stop to my mother's plan." Elijah said with a sigh.

"She's being a martyr again." Alaric summarized.

"No, she's not. She is doing everything she can to ensure that everyone she loves, herself included, is safe from harm. She knows you would worry about her if you found out, and she knows that you would ultimately tell Damon. She might not care about Damon, and she might not love Stefan any more, but she still cares about the latter, she wants him to get his humanity back, and to be happy. None of that would be possible if my mother's plan were to succeed." Elijah responded, placing the glass on the counter.

"Why don't you just tell me and then compel me to forget? Or even easier, just compel me to forget that I even heard anything about your mother's plan?" Alaric asked.

"Because you are on vervain. And I would never go against Elena's wishes." Elijah replied. "And even if you weren't on vervain, telling you and then compelling you to forget would be going against her wishes."

"Good point. Please let Elena know that I'll talk to her later?" Alaric requested as he moved towards the front door.

"I will." Elijah replied with a nod.

Once Alaric was gone, and the front door was firmly shut behind him, Elijah headed back to the kitchen and downed the glass of blood. He desperately needed it after how the day was already going. After rinsing the glass out and putting it in the dishwasher, Elijah made his way upstairs to brush his teeth and wrap his arms around Elena as they both slept. Upon reaching the bedroom, however, Elijah was met with an empty bed, and no sound coming from anywhere in the room.

"Elena?" He called.

"I'm down here, honey." Elena responded from the living room.

"When did you come downstairs?" Elijah asked.

"As Alaric was moving. I'm surprised you didn't see me when you headed upstairs." Elena replied.

"I thought you were taking a nap, I didn't expect you to be down here." He said as he joined her on the couch and pulled her onto his lap.

"You smell like blood." She commented while crinkling her nose at the smell.

"The fridge was restocked. I need to ask Rebekah when that happened, because when I checked the other day, it was empty." He said.

"She might have given you her supply this morning when we were upstairs, with the plan to restock her own." Elena suggested.

"That is definitely a possibility." Elijah said. "What woke you up? Because you had already started to fall asleep when I was leaving the room."

"Your pillow wasn't good enough company. I can only snuggle against it so much before you not physically being there wakes me up." Elena replied.

"Would you like to go back upstairs? Our guest have all left, so you would have my undivided attention." Elijah offered.

"Yes please." Elena replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

"While we didn't get to spend _all_ day in bed, we have spent a good portion of it in bed, given the two times that you've gotten overwhelmed with emotion and ran from the room." Elijah commented as he lifted her into his arms and carried her upstairs. "And we have the rest of the day to ourselves." He added.

"Are the romantic afternoon activities cancelled again?" Elena asked in a small voice.

"Not if you don't want them to be."

"I don't want them to be. But I'm drained."

"You have said that before, and then you were hit by a wave of arousal."

"So what are we going to do? Sex or sleep?"

Elijah didn't answer. Elena took it as the latter option, but when Elijah turned towards the bathroom, instead of continuing towards the bed, Elena looked up at him with a confused look. With a sigh when he still didn't respond, Elena figured Elijah was going to draw them a bath to help alleviate the stress in her body, and then they would take a nap. But neither option happened. Instead, Elijah lightly sat her on the counter, and went to the shower to turn it on. After getting the water to a decently warm temperature, Elijah returned to Elena and pressed his lips to hers.

"Shower sex and then sleep." He murmured against her lips, and Elena smiled.

"You're wearing too many clothes, Elijah." She replied when Elijah moved to kiss along her jaw.

"So are you, Elena." Elijah whispered into Elena's ear.

 ***** MATURE CONTENT – SKIP AHEAD IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS *****

Elijah's words sent a shiver down Elena's spine. Redirecting his mouth back to hers, Elena pressed her lips to Elijah's in a heated kiss as they worked at getting the other out of their clothes. It was a frenzied mess of tangled limbs, and reluctant breaks in kissing when their shirts were removed, but they managed it. Once they were both naked, Elena jumped up into Elijah's arms and wrapped her legs around his waist as he walked them towards the shower and under the spray of water. The water running down their bodies was quickly making it difficult for Elena to hold on to Elijah, but she gripped at his neck and shoulders while he gripped her hips to steady her against his body.

"'Lijah... too tight." Elena muttered against his lips with a wince at his hold.

Elijah loosened his grip and moved them to the wall to help support Elena without hurting her. It would only be after they were done that he would feel the guilt of hurting her, but in the moment, Elijah couldn't let himself acknowledge it fully without it ruining the whole thing. Instead, with Elena being supported between his body and the wall, it gave Elijah a chance to have his hands roam her body. One hand moved up to her chest to squeeze and tweak her breast while the other moved to her thigh to wrap her leg tighter around his waist before squeezing Elena's ass. When that action caused his girlfriend to squeal, Elijah smirked and pulled away from the kiss.

"You like me playing with your ass, darling?" He asked.

"N-n-no." Elena stuttered as another shiver ran through her body at Elijah's lust-filled gaze.

"Are you sure?" Elijah asked as he squeezed her again.

"ELIJAH!" Elena exclaimed.

"It seems like you do." Elijah said, his smirk deepening, and his eyes darkening even more.

Elena's eyes roamed Elijah's face. She was fascinated by the fact that as he allowed lust to take over, that his vampire visage came out. That with the knowledge that when he felt she was being threatened made it come out as well, Elena mentally told herself to see what else could get Elijah to vamp out. With a smirk of her own, she leaned forward and nipped his bottom lip, reveling in the fact that she broke skin. Licking at his blood, Elena purposefully spread it around her lips before giving Elijah a hard kiss.

"That's dangerous territory, my dear Elena." Elijah growled.

"What are you going to do about it?" Elena asked innocently.

Elijah didn't give a verbal answer, instead he reached between their bodies to take hold of his dick, lined it up with Elena's entrance and thrust upward, filling her almost completely with a single thrust. The feeling made them both moan, and Elena rotated her hips against Elijah's, adjusting to his size. It had been a while since she had been with anyone, and Elijah was definitely bigger than Stefan, so it was definitely going to take some getting used to... something Elena was looking forward to and hoped that Elijah was looking forward to as well.

Once she had adjusted, Elena bucked her hips against Elijah's to urge him to move. Closing the distance between them, Elijah pressed another kiss to Elena's lips before moving to kiss her jaw and neck, across her shoulder and down to her collarbone. As he trailed kisses along every part of Elena's body that he could reach, Elijah started to slowly pull out before thrusting back in, using a bit of his vampire strength to back the thrusts, but not enough to hurt her any more than he already had. And with every thrust, Elena let out a low moan. But much too soon, Elena's inner walls were fluttering around Elijah's dick and she was coming undone around him.

"That wasn't nearly long enough." Elena groaned with a frown.

"I'm not done with you yet, darling." Elijah commented as he sped up his actions while taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles.

"Elijah..." Elena breathed out as his thrusts got deeper and more powerful.

Intertwining the fingers on the hand that he held, Elijah pinned Elena's hand to the wall above her head and closed more of the distance separating their bodies, his lips meeting Elena's yet again. While he loved hearing her unintelligible moans, and the sound of his name as she was hit by wave after wave of pleasure, Elijah couldn't get enough of Elena's lips. Elena didn't mind the constant kissing. She loved kissing Elijah just as much as she enjoyed being kissed by him. But when Elijah nipped at Elena's lip and drew blood, everything froze around them.

When everything started again, Elijah was as far away from Elena as he could be without leaving the shower all together, and Elena felt empty. The water from the shower felt like ice striking Elena's skin as hot tears welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Elijah wasn't even looking at her. Angrily wiping the tears away from her cheeks, Elena opened the shower door to grab a towel, wrapping it around herself as she exited the bathroom.

 ***** MATURE CONTENT ENDED – SAFE TO READ FROM HERE *****

It felt like a dream. No. Not a dream. A nightmare, really. Because in no way would a dream consist of your boyfriend getting as far away from you in the middle of making love for the first time. But that was exactly what Elijah had done, and Elena was hurt. After she had dried off, she pulled on her pajamas and climbed into bed, despite it still being the middle of the afternoon, with silent tears still falling down her cheeks as she tried her hardest not to let her anger and hurt exhaust her enough to make her fall asleep. She had fallen asleep crying too many times in the past year that she didn't want to do it again. It never helped. And it only made the following day that much worse. She distantly heard the shower being turned off, and the light from the bathroom being turned off shortly after.

When Elijah climbed into the bed behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close, Elena didn't stop him. She didn't turn to look at him, nor did she say anything to him, though. When he pressed his lips to her shoulder, the tears doubled, and she angrily wiped them away again. She thought she had gotten past all of this. Thought she had gotten past being so easily hurt by a guy. In the back of her mind, she knew why Elijah had reacted the way he had. But that didn't stop the fact that it hurt it. It hurt much worse than the morning after her birthday when the same thing had happened. Because unlike that time, they had been in the middle of making love, and it felt like a rejection for Elijah to stop like he had.

"I'm so sorry Elena." Elijah whispered.

"About which part?" Elena asked bitterly.

"All of it. Gripping your hips too tightly; biting your lip; distancing myself from you in the middle of making love. I hate hurting you physically, but I hate it even more that I've caused you emotional pain." Elijah replied. "Please look at me."

"No." Elena said as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Elena, please, I need you to look at me." Elijah begged.

"Have you ever felt rejected by someone, Elijah?" Elena bit out as her eyes shot open to glare up at him over her shoulder, and she instantly regretted the decision as he recoiled slightly at her tone. "I'm sorry." She whispered.

"Don't apologize, Elena. You have every right to be angry with me." Elijah said as he lightly turned her onto her back. "But in answer to your question; no, not in the way you must feel I've rejected you." He added.

"But you know the feeling of being rejected." She stated.

"To a degree, yes. You know that I thought I had loved Tatia and Katerina, and they both chose Niklaus over me. I hadn't done more than kiss either of them but seeing them choose my brother over me stung." He explained.

"Elijah, if this is going to work, and we are going to be together while I'm living as much of my human life as I can, then we are going to have to figure something out in regard to you tasting my blood from time to time when it's not an emergency." Elena said.

"I don't want to put us in a position where I get too much of a taste of your blood, and I can't stop. If I were to do that to you, and you were to die, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." Elijah replied as he lightly rubbed circles on Elena's stomach.

"That's what I'm talking, Elijah." Elena said with a sigh.

"What do you suggest we do, Elena?"

"I don't know, Elijah. But we need to do something."


	22. Chapter 22

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 22

For the rest of the afternoon, and into early evening, Elena and Elijah laid in bed, Elena curled up against Elijah's side with her head resting on his chest, trying to come up with a solution to the blood/feeding and still having sex situation. Much to their joint frustration, they couldn't find a solution that they both agreed upon. More than once, Elena's frustration got the best of her and silent tears slide down her cheeks, landing on Elijah's chest, causing the conversation to come to a temporary stand still as Elijah wiped the tears from Elena's cheeks.

"The only other thing that I can think of is that you don't drink from me directly." Elena said.

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked.

"What if I were to talk to Meredith Fell and have her take a bag of my blood every other week, or maybe just once a month, and then without telling you which day I'm giving it to you, I put my blood into a glass, like the way you drink from other blood bags when at home, then you wouldn't run the risk of hurting me." Elena suggested.

"It could work, but I would want us to both talk to this Meredith Fell woman, make sure that there is no chance of someone else getting ahold of your blood." Elijah said after a moment's thought to consider the idea.

"She's a member of one of Mystic Fall's Founding Families, she's bound to know about Vampires, even if she doesn't follow in the footsteps of the rest of her family in wanting to get rid of them, so I would assume that if we sit her down, explain the situation, that she would be willing to draw my blood here instead of at the hospital." Elena said.

"Elena, you do know that this wouldn't be a permanent solution to our situation, right?" Elijah asked.

"I know, but it's a start, and we can take things one small step at a time." Elena replied with a yawn as her stomach growled.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to call it an early night and go to sleep, but we need to get food into you, since you haven't eaten since this morning, and even that wasn't much with Jeremy's news." Elijah said.

"I'm fine, Elijah." Elena denied.

"Elena, your stomach just growled so loudly that I'm sure Rebekah could have heard it from her apartment. I'm not saying you need a 5-course meal, but at least a sandwich." He said as he moved to get out of bed.

"Don't go." She said quickly grabbing his hand.

"Elena, you can come downstairs with me."

Elena stared wide eyed at Elijah as he gave her a quizzical look. She wasn't sure what it was that made her not want Elijah to go downstairs, and even more so, she wasn't sure what was stopping _herself_ from going downstairs. All Elena knew was that there was a pit in her stomach that gave her a bad feeling. Lightly pulling on Elijah's hand, Elena was surprised when her boyfriend allowed himself to be pulled back onto the bed. Maybe it was the look in her eyes that let on more than she knew she was letting on, or maybe it had been the slight tremble in her voice, but either way, Elijah was back on the bed and pulling Elena onto his lap to hold her close.

"Talk to me, Elena. What's wrong?" Elijah asked.

"I don't know. There's a pit in my stomach, and I don't want either of us to go downstairs because of it." Elena whispered before burying her head into the crook between Elijah's neck and shoulder.

"I want to be able to assure you that there's nothing to worry about, but I can't do that if you don't want me to go downstairs." Elijah said around pressing a kiss to Elena's head.

"I know it's irrational." Elena muttered.

"Elena, never discredit your gut feeling. The fact that you are means that the Salvatore brothers broke your self confidence in ways that I can't even fathom. Did they ever accept your decisions without second guessing them?" Elijah asked.

"No, they didn't. Even though Stefan let me make my own decisions, he rarely, if ever, actually agreed with those decisions. He and Damon both were more than happy to make decisions about me and my life behind my back and expect me to go along with them. Just be a good little girl that kept her mouth shut and did as she was told." Elena replied.

"And are you not a good girl?" Elijah asked. "That... did not come out the way I had intended it." He said when Elena pulled back to give him a surprised look.

"How did you intend it to sound?" Elena asked.

"Not sexual, I know that much." He replied.

"I don't think there's a way to say that without it sounding sexual to someone." She commented.

"I swear that I didn't mean it in a sexual manner, but since it's out there..." He said, trailing off at the end.

"Well, I don't know. It was kind of difficult to ever get behind the idea of role-play in the bedroom when the guy you're having sex with already sees someone else when he looks at you." She replied.

"Knowing that I see only you, is it an idea that you are open to? Once we get the blood thing sorted out?"

"I don't see why we couldn't try it. Although once we get more into that stuff, we should probably set some ground rules on roles that I wouldn't be comfortable doing."

"A completely understandable discussion for a later time."

As Elena resumed resting her head on Elijah's shoulder, her thoughts from the morning returned to her. After intertwining their fingers, Elena let out a sigh. While the pit in her stomach hadn't dissipated completely, it had lessened with Elijah holding her, and she started to think that maybe it had nothing to do with going downstairs, and everything to do with what happened in the shower, and just wanting to stay curled up in bed with him.

"Do vampires dream?" Elena asked.

"I can't speak for all vampires, but I know that I've had dreams since I was turned." Elijah replied.

"What was your most recent dream?" She questioned.

"Last night I dreamt of us having a family. A little boy and a little girl, and another little one on the way. Rebekah and Jeremy were married, and had recently gotten some new wedding rings, so they had given the less valuable ones to our children without telling us." He explained.

"3 kids?"

"I know you are an only child, biologically, but keep in mind, I'm the third child of seven. A big family is not a concept I would be shy away from, were that to be what you wanted."

"I know, and it's not that I don't want a big family, I just hadn't thought about how many kids I might want to have if we were to decide we wanted to start a family before I potentially make the decision to become a vampire."

"You have been through so much, Elena, that I understand not having thought about it. And we can always discuss how many kids, if any, we want to have later on. It shouldn't be a discussion that we have 3 weeks into our relationship, especially when you are about to start your senior year of high school."

"It seems like its been so much longer than 3 weeks..."

"Are you feeling any better?"

"A little bit. You holding me helps."

"I could carry you downstairs to show you that there's nothing to worry about." Elijah suggested.

"No..." Elena said as she clung to his shoulders and buried her head in his neck again.

"Elena, darling, how can I make you feel better and safe if you don't want me to go downstairs?" Elijah asked.

"I don't know Elijah. I just know that I don't want you to go." Elena said, silently cursing to herself as her eyes stung with tears.

"Elena..." Elijah said slowly, his undead heart breaking at the sound in his girlfriend's voice.

"I'm scared. And it scares me even more that I don't know why I'm scared. I'm not usually this girl." Elena admitted.

"It's okay to be vulnerable, Elena. And again, you have been through so much, and being around Stefan and Damon for as long as you were, they didn't help." Elijah replied soothingly. "Tell me what you need me to do to make you feel better."

"Please... just... don't leave me." Elena said in a small voice, and Elijah realized the true meaning behind her words.

Elena wasn't just not wanting him to leave her to see if there was a cause to be worried downstairs. She had already lost so many people in her life for one reason or another that she was scared of losing someone else. And not just to death. Niklaus had caused Stefan to turn off his humanity and had taken the young Salvatore away from Elena. Alaric had been so overprotective that there was a rift between them that would take time to heal, but their relationship would never be the same, even once it was healed. Bonnie had seemingly turned away from her best friends in favor of Damon's company, and it was still unclear as to if the young Bennett Witch could be compelled or not. Elena's parents, both adopted and biological, had died or been killed, along with her adoptive aunt being killed for Niklaus' ritual.

"I'm not going anywhere, Elena. You will never lose me."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Esther frowned to herself as she waited for her son to come downstairs, sure of the fact that his little doppelgänger could sense that there was someone in the apartment, but Elijah never came down. She had hoped that by Niklaus killing the girl, that Elijah would cease to defy his family for the girl who wore the same face as the one who had been his "first love". Sadly, Esther had underestimated the devotion that the people in Elena Gilbert's life felt towards her, and they had found a way to keep her alive after being drained of her blood to complete the ritual.

When close to an hour had passed since she had first entered the apartment, and there still wasn't a sign of Elijah coming down to ensure there was nothing to worry about, Esther decided that she needed to take more drastic measures. As she reached the top of the stairs, Esther heard Elijah's words of comfort, causing her to come to a halt. She had faith that her plan would work, one way or another, and instead of the doppelgänger losing her life as a sacrifice for Esther's family, Esther would take her son away from the girl.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Elijah heard movement in the apartment, even with the barely there footfalls getting closer to the bedroom, but he didn't want to alarm Elena. She was already on edge, he didn't want to push her over. Pulling her even closer into his chest, Elijah ran his hands up and down Elena's sides and back, trying to keep her calm. When whomever was in the apartment came to a stop at the top of the stairs, Elijah waited a few minutes after telling Elena that she would never lose him before he lifted her chin and pressed his lips to hers. The moan that Elena let out was near instantaneous, and Elijah deepened the kiss, swiping his tongue along Elena's lower lip to seek entrance to her mouth.

Parting her lips to allow Elijah's tongue to explore her mouth, Elena shifted her position on Elijah's lap so that she was straddling him. Her arms wrapped around his neck while she ran her fingers through his hair to hold his head firmly against hers. Elijah wrapped an arm around Elena's waist to pull her body flush against his and brought his other hand up to cradle the back of her head. He had been able to figure out when the person stopped at the top of the stairs who it was, and he was showing his mother that she would not succeed in breaking him and Elena apart. When Elena pulled away from the kiss, the light that had been missing over the past few hours was back.

"While I will never turn down a chance to kiss you, what was that for?" Elena asked, panting slightly to catch her breath.

"I needed you to know how much I love you, and how truly sorry I am for what I did early." Elijah replied as he rolled them over and pulled the covers over them.  
"Elijah..." Elena said slowly.

"Please Elena, let me do this for you." Elijah said, slowly moving his hands to the hem of Elena's pajama top and pushing it up so that he could kiss along her stop and her sides where faint bruises from his hands gripping her early could be made out. "I am so sorry for hurting you, my sweet, darling Elena." He whispered against her hip.

"Don't make it a habit of hurting me, just so you can apologize later with foreplay or make-up sex." Elena commented softly, going for humor but it coming out flat.

"I would never dream of doing that, my love." Elijah replied before moving up her body so that he was hovering over her and looking her in the eye. "Can we try this again?" He asked.

"Are you sure you want to?" Elena questioned, the light in her eyes dimming as she held back tears, fearful that Elijah was just wanting to give her what she wanted, and that he didn't really want to have sex with her right now.

"Elena, the only reason I stopped early was because I didn't want to hurt you by allowing myself to taste more of your blood. It had nothing to do with me not wanting to make love to you." Elijah replied.

"Okay then." She agreed with a nod.

Elijah pulled Elena up into a sitting position so that he could pull her tank top off before laying her back down and removing her pajama bottoms. Elena bit her lower lip as her body arched against Elijah's ministrations. Once he had her naked beneath him, Elijah hovered over Elena, supporting his weight with one hand while brushing his fingertips of his other hand across her cheek, his thumb tracing her lips.

"I love you Elena Gilbert." Elijah whispered.

"And I, you, Elijah Mikaelson." Elena replied.

Leaning down, Elijah pressed his lips to Elena's in a slow, passionate kiss as their bodies connected as one. When he had managed to remove his own pajama pants, Elena wasn't sure, but she didn't question it. Where as earlier in the shower had been a bit on the hasty side, and Elijah hadn't been completely gentle, this time was slow, loving, and exactly what Elena thought making love should be. And it helped the Elijah was placing small kisses on every part of her body that he could reach without bending in awkward ways. As Elena's orgasm was starting to build, she rolled them over so that she was riding Elijah, and the new position pulled him deeper inside. Bracing her hands on Elijah's chest, Elena sped up the pace just slightly and when she hit her peak, tumbling over the edge as waves of pleasure crashed over her, she came with Elijah's name on her lips, and pulled Elijah over the edge with her.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Esther was furious with her son. But she could use that to her advantage. If Elijah was being intimate with the girl, and if his words were any indication, then he would have tasted the girl's blood. All she had to do was figure out a way to get Elijah away from the girl just long enough to get her children to consume some of the girl's blood at the same time, and everything would be back on track. Finn was still ready and willing to be the sacrifice that brought all of his siblings down. Sure, Esther might have made Finn believe that in sacrificing himself in such a way, it would just be bringing an end to their immortality and desires for blood, but it was better he believe that he would have a chance at a normal life than know the full truth.

Having seen and heard enough from her son and the girl, Esther exited the apartment as quietly as she had entered it. With the new information that she had, she was going to use it to her advantage. It was a well known fact that Vampires couldn't reproduce, but if Esther worked some of her magic, since she still had the girl's blood from the other night at the ball, and since her own blood ran through Elijah's veins, she could ensure that the girl got pregnant before taking Elijah away. Not to mention the fact that Esther's blood was untainted by the immortality that plagued Elijah's blood, so the child wouldn't be an abomination. Smiling to herself, Esther made her way back to the mansion. She had spells to cast.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

After a few more rounds of making love, Elena was thoroughly spent and had curled up into a tight ball at Elijah's side. She might have been tired, but she was happy. She and Elijah had finally had their first time together, and while things hadn't gone according to plan while they had been in the shower, Elijah had more than made up for what had happened once they were in bed. It was only when sleep seemed to be evading him that Elijah broke the comfortable silence between them.

"You had a good reason to feel uneasy about going downstairs earlier." Elijah said.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked as she lifted her head to look up at him.

"There had been someone in the apartment."

"Who was it?"

"My mother. She seemed to have been waiting for me to come downstairs, and when I didn't, she made her way up the stairs, but left soon after that."

"When did you realize that she was there?" Elena's face had hardened.

"Elena..." Elijah tried.

"Tell me the truth Elijah. When did you realize that your mother was in our apartment?" Elena cut him off.

"I heard her coming up the stairs, but I didn't realize it was her until we were making out." Elijah replied.

"So... what? You used sex as a way to 'screw you' to your mother?" Elena bit out as she pushed away from him and rolled over.

"Of course not Elena. I would never do that to you. I wanted to make it up to you the second it happened earlier. It just happened to be that I have really bad timing with these things." Elijah said.

"And that's supposed to make it better? Elijah... we just had sex while your mother was standing at the top of the stairs, right outside our bedroom door. You knew that she was there, and instead of confronting her, you chose to have sex with me. And now, I can't help but feel like you used me to get back at your mother." Elena snapped.

"Elena, I'm sorry." Elijah replied. "You're right, I should have confronted my mother, but my main concern was making sure you were okay. You were already on edge and didn't know why. And I knew that if I told you my mother was here, you would have been more on edge, and you might have fallen over. I didn't want that to happen." He continued. "I made a mistake. Clearly I'm not as perfect as everything seems to think that I am, because I've made multiple mistakes today alone. But can you really fault me for wanting to make it up to you after I upset you during our first try at making love?" He added. "I hate that I keep causing you more emotional pain than you already have in your life. But I'm still a man, Elena. I am still prone to mistakes."

"You want to know what would have made me feel better, Elijah? Knowing why there was a pit in my stomach that something wasn't right and confronting that reason and getting rid of it. Because I honestly would have preferred our first time to not have been watched by your psychotic witch of a mother."

"I'm so sorry Elena." Elijah said.

"I am too, Elijah. I am too." Elena replied.


	23. Chapter 23

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 23

The following few days were tense between Elena and Elijah. While they still shared a bed, Elena wouldn't let Elijah touch her, and they barely spoke, unless it was completely necessary, or if they had company over. They had gotten the paperwork sorted out, and the building was in Jeremy's name. Elijah, Rebekah, Kol, Klaus and Caroline got to work on compelling the other tenants on the mindset to move, and the first to make the switch was Matt. Elena was happy that Matt was the first one safe. He was the only other human in the group, other than herself and Jeremy, and she had been worrying about his safety the most. If Katherine, Stefan, Damon or Esther and Finn got to the others, everyone else had a better chance of defending themselves to get to safety, Matt didn't have that.

"Are you okay, Elena? You've been unusually quite the last few days." Matt questioned as he and Elena started unpacking boxes.

"It's weird to talk to a guy about what's going on." Elena replied.

"Elijah didn't hurt you, did he?" Matt asked.

"It's nothing like that, Matt. I promise. Our relationship progressed, and then I found out afterwards that we had had an audience." Elena said slowly, watching Matt's face for when realization hit him.

"You and Elijah... who was watching?"

"His mother had gotten into the apartment somehow, and I had had this pit in my gut that something was off, and while I didn't know why it was there, I knew that I didn't want me or Elijah to go downstairs. Apparently, though, Esther had wanted Elijah to go downstairs, so when he didn't, she came upstairs. Elijah knew she was there and didn't say or do anything and then we... you know." Elena explained.

"And you can't help but feel like he used you." Matt deduced.

"Yeah. I mean, I know he didn't. We had started to... you know... in the shower, and then he nicked my lip, and that try ended abruptly, and he had been wanting to make it up to me, so I know he didn't mean for anyone to be around when we did, but I just wish he would have taken a few minutes to get her to leave before we were intimate." She said with a sigh.

"Elena, Elijah is crazy about you. Anyone with eyes can see that. Hell, I can see it, and I'm your ex-boyfriend. If his mother was there, and he knew about it, it was just really shitty timing, and nothing that he can control in regard to his senses if his focus is on you. Because believe me, Elena. When Elijah's focus is on you, the rest of the world melts away." He responded.

"Thanks, Matt. You really are an amazing friend."

"Any time. I just want you to be happy, Elena. And I know that Elijah makes you happy. Just keep in mind that just because he's an Original Vampire, doesn't mean he's immune to human mistakes. Relationships are never easy, it seems even less easy where supernatural relationships are concerned. All that you can do now is forgive him for the mistake, let him learn from it, and move on from it."

"When did you get to be so wise, Donovan?"

"That would be when I found myself having to take care of myself and my older sister when our mother was never home."

"Matt, I..."

"It's okay, Elena. You asked a question, and I answered it honestly. We all had to grow up a lot faster than we should have had to. I just had to do so a bit faster." Matt replied.

Before Elena could respond, there was a clearing of a throat at the door way, and the two teens turned towards the door to see Elijah standing there, his eyes moving around the door frame as he leaned against it.

"It seems having Mr. Donovan's name on the lease for this unit means only vampires that he invites in can enter. May I come in, Matthew, so that I can offer assistance in unpacking?" Elijah asked.

Matt looked from Elijah to Elena, not knowing what he should do. He might have told Elena that it was best to forgive Elijah for her own happiness, but this was still the man that was currently dating Matt's ex-girlfriend, and he wasn't sure what the protocol was for interacting with one's ex's present partner. When Elena gave a shrug and a single nod, Matt looked back at Elijah.

"Sure, come on in, Elijah." He said.

"We will need to inform the others of this development." Elijah commented, glancing at Elena.

"We will." Elena said without making eye contact with him.

"Oh for crying out loud. You two seriously need to kiss and make up already. 3 days is already too long for this to have been going on. You're both miserable and if you're both going to help me move in, then you two need to be fully speaking to each other." Matt said.

"Matt..." Elena started.

"No, Elena. I'm not going to stand by and watch the best thing that has happened to you crumble because you can't forgive him for a mistake." Matt argued. "So I am going to leave the two of you alone, and you are going to make up. And I will only come back once you two are back to your nauseatingly lovey-dovey selves." He added while heading towards the front door.

"Mr. Donovan, this really isn't necessary." Elijah commented.

"It actually really is. You and Elena are great together, and you've barely been speaking to each in the last few days. Did you really think that the rest of us haven't noticed? We are your friends and family, and we all care about the two of you. So while I might be the only regular human here, I'm going to be the one that fixes this." Matt replied, making sure to emphasize his point by slamming the front door on his way out.

The room fell silent in the wake of Matt's departure. Both Elena and Elijah knew that Matt was right. Their friends and family cared about them and would have had to all be blind to see the strain and distance between them over the last few days. But that didn't make it easy to admit to themselves, or to each other, that he was right. Elena dared a glance at Elijah only to find him half turned away from her, shoulders slumped slightly forward, his eyes tightly shut. Her heart broke at seeing him like that. Taking a tentative step in his direction, Elena held her breath as she reached for his arm, only coming to a stop when Elijah straightened up and turned to face her fully.

"You haven't allowed me to touch you in days, Elena, what exactly did you intend to do just now?" Elijah asked, trying to sound harsh, but only succeeding at sounding broken.

"Elijah... I was hurt. I still am. You waited until after we made love to tell me that your mother had been there. How had you expected me to react? Had you expected me to just act like your mother hadn't seen us making love? It was irrational of me to think that you were only using sex with me to get back at your mother for what she had tried to do, and what she probably still plans on doing, I know that, and I accept that. But that doesn't change how you made me feel in the moment. But none of that means that I enjoy seeing you in any sort of pain." Elena said.

"So you get to touch me, but I can't touch you?" Elijah asked.

"What do you want me to say, Elijah?" Elena questioned.

"I want you to say that you forgive me, Elena. That you understand that the choice I made in the moment was a mistake, and the wrong choice, and accept my apology for it and forgive me so that we can move on. We've been happy the last few weeks, Elena. And because of your stubbornness over this one mistake, our relationship is crumbling around us. I'm trying to respect your wishes, but you're making it difficult. You still sleep in my bed, and insist that I sleep there as well, but you won't allow me to touch you, to hold you. It's driving me crazy being so close to you and knowing that I can't have you in my arms because you're afraid that I'm just using you." Elijah replied.

"That's not why I haven't wanted you to touch me." Elena said in a small voice as she looked down.

"Then tell me why and let me fix it." Elijah said. "Give me a chance to make things better between us."

"There's nothing you can do about this, Elijah. That's the problem." Elena replied, blinking back tears.

"Please, Elena. Talk to me." Elijah begged.

"I forgave you shortly after it happened, Elijah. But it made me realize other things. We are doing everything that we can to keep your brother, and Katherine, and Stefan, and Damon out of this building. To protect everyone else that I care about. But your mother can still get inside. She proved that the other night. She didn't just get into the building without detection, but she got into our apartment without us even realizing she had come in. Buying the building and putting it under Jeremy's name is great; vampires still needing to be invited into the individual units is even better. But none of that will keep any of us safe if your mother, who isn't a vampire, can still get inside and can get to us. She could still take you away from me." Elena explained, her voice breaking on the last 8 words. "We finally made love for the first time, and then shortly after that, it dawned on me that I could let myself get even more attached to you, only to lose you like I've lost almost everyone else that I love."

Elijah wasn't fast enough to stop the tears that fell from his eyes at hearing Elena's words. Disregarding his resolve to respect her wishes not to be touched, Elijah closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Elena's shoulders, holding her close. Elena could feel Elijah's tears hit the top of her head, and Elijah could feel Elena's tears soaking through his shirt. Elijah had thought that he had been good at figuring out what Elena was thinking and feeling, but he had been so far off base, and his heart broke to know that over the last few days, Elena had been going through emotional turmoil and that he hadn't even tried to ask her what she had been thinking. He had assumed that she was still mad at him for not telling her that his mother had been in the apartment before they had made love and hadn't even considered that there was something else that was upsetting her.

"I am so, so sorry Elena. I should have asked you what you were upset about instead of assuming that you were still mad at me. I never should have made you feel like you couldn't talk to me." Elijah said. "I love you my darling Elena." He added in a whisper.

"I love you too, Elijah. And that's what was making everything I was thinking and feeling so much worse. Because I do love you, and your mother succeeds, then I'll be losing the man that I love, and I don't know how I would survive that, or if I even could survive it." Elena replied.

"We'll stop my mother, Elena. You won't lose me." Elijah replied while running his fingers through Elena's hair. "For the first time, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah and myself have a common goal, and we are a formidable force when we are working together, instead of against each other." He said. "And it's not just the four of us that are going up against our mother and brother. Its us, Caroline, Tyler and Alaric. You, Jeremy and Matt will be nowhere near the fight. Nor will Sheriff Forbes, or Mayor Lockwood."

"It's not just your mother and Finn. It's Katherine, Stefan and Damon, and possibly Bonnie as well. If Bonnie isn't on our side, she can incapacitate all of you by just staring at you. We need to find a way to get Bonnie on our side to even the playing field. We could have all of the Vampire, Werewolf and Hybrid strength in the world, and it would be all be for nothing going up against 2 powerful witches."

"We'll get Bonnie back on our side, Elena."

Elena could do nothing more than nod her head against Elijah's chest at his words while weakly wrapping her arms around his waist. A small, slightly broken smile graced Elijah's face. Elena was supposed to be happy. She was meant to be starting her first day of her senior year of high school the following day, and she was supposed to be looking forward to Homecoming, and Prom, and Graduation. She was supposed to be looking at colleges to apply to. And instead, she was near constantly emotionally drained and having to go through much more than an 18 year old girl should be going through at this point in her life. And Elijah wasn't even sure if the situation between Elena and Alaric had been sorted out, as he hadn't seen Elena even in the same room as her step-father since the day everyone else was informed of the plan.

"Do you want to go home and get some sleep?" Elijah asked. It wasn't much, but it was all he could offer her at the moment.

"We offered to help Matt unpack." Elena replied.

"You've been through so much, Elena. I'm sure Matthew will understand." Elijah said.

"I can't just stop in the middle of doing something I promised to help with, Elijah." Elena argued.

"Elena, you are so strong for everyone else in your life, but you are constantly neglecting your own health and sanity. Please, get some rest. I will stay and help him unpack. I'm sure he wants to properly vet me to make sure I'm good enough for you." Elijah replied.

"You're not going to let up on this, are you?" Elena asked.

"When it comes to you, I will never stand by and idly watch you not take care of yourself." Elijah said.

"Fine. I'll go take a nap. But I swear if you try to make me go take a nap when everyone else is moving in, when I've already promised to help them move in as well, you will be sleeping on the couch, or I will be staying with Alaric and Jeremy." Elena said, narrowing her eyes as she pulled away from Elijah's embrace to half-heartedly glare up at him.

"Speaking of your step-father, have the two of you sat down to really talk? Rebekah and Caroline seemed pretty adamant that that happen before school started, and your first day is tomorrow."

"Not yet. But it's still early enough in the day that he and I can talk later today."

Before Elijah could comment, there was a commotion out in the hallway, and the couple hurried to the door, Elena pulling it open just in time for Matt to come stumbling in, Jeremy and Alaric right behind him, demanding the door be closed, quickly. Elena did as requested before she was at Matt's side, holding his head up as her brother and step-father sat him down on the couch.

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"Damon. They are watching us, Elena. Esther, Finn, Damon, Stefan, Katherine. They are watching all of us. Damon saw as Matt packed all of us his stuff up into his truck, and drove over here, while Stefan watched the family that used to live here move into Matt's house. They know we're planning something. Damon attacked Matt just outside the front door of the building." Jeremy replied.

"How did they even find out? We were careful." Elena questioned.

"After we left the other day, to let Matt and Tyler know what the plan was. Any of them could have been at the Grill without us seeing them. They could have heard us talking. I'm so sorry, Elena." Jeremy said.

"But he couldn't get into the building, right? The commotion in the hall just know was you and Alaric helping Matt to the door?" Elena asked looking between the two of them.

"He tried, Elena. Damon knows that there's only a few people that could have their name on the paperwork for the building. He must have gone after Matt first because he was the first one of the three of you that he saw alone." Alaric said.

"You're not suggesting that Damon Salvatore will go after Elena, are you?" Elijah asked. "The boy is still under the impression that I've compelled Elena to be with me. He wouldn't hurt her." He added.

"Damon is unstable. He's killed Jeremy multiple times, the only saving grace being the Gilbert Family ring that brings him back if he's killed by a supernatural being. He's tried to hurt Elena out of rage. Hell, you of all people know that Damon forced Elena to drink his blood so that there was a better chance that she would come back as a vampire after Klaus' ritual, instead of a human. The only reason she is still human is because of her father's sacrifice." Alaric replied.

"So what are you suggesting we do? She's meant to start her senior year tomorrow. And you are not only her step-father, but her history teacher. Surely you aren't suggesting that we keep her inside this building until we figure out how to put a stop to everyone that is against us right now." Elijah said, his eyes staring wide and imploringly at Alaric.

"Of course I'm not suggesting that. We have no idea how long it will take us to put a stop to all of this. Elena would be out of school for who knows how long, and she wouldn't be able to graduate on time." Alaric responded.

"Stop it, both of you." Elena snapped. "Matt is hurt, and he needs help." She said turning to look at Elijah. "Can you heal him?"

"You'd rather go with the vampire blood option rather than taking him to the hospital?" Jeremy asked.

"At this point, yes. We don't know if Damon is still outside or not. And if we call an ambulance, there's a chance that Damon, or any of the others could take out the paramedics and impersonate them to get to the rest of us." Elena explained.

"Of course, my darling." Elijah said with a nod as he bit into his wrist and offered it to Matt.

"Did you two make up?" Matt asked, coughing a bit through his words.

"As much as we could." Elena replied.

"What does that mean, 'Lena?" Jeremy asked.

"It means that we still have things to deal with before our relationship can be completely mended. And no, Ric, that does not mean that I'm coming back to the house. Especially not after what Damon just did to Matt." Elena replied, eyeing Alaric.


	24. Chapter 24

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 24

Elena sat next to Matt on his couch while he took some of Elijah's blood. She was aware that there was a silent conversation that was going on between Alaric, Elijah and Jeremy, but they weren't her focus right now. They could continue to try and plan her life for her, but she had already made up her mind on what she was going to do. She just needed to make sure that Matt was okay first, before she put the other men in her life in their places. As the bruises and cuts that adorned Matt's face cleared up, he reached over to squeeze Elena's knee and nudged her shoulder before nodding across the room to where the other three men were standing. With a nod of her head in understanding, she stood up.

"That's enough, please. I know you all want what's best for me, and that given what Damon did to Matt, that you think the best thing for me is to stay in a place that he can't get to me. And you are right, but you are wrong about me missing school to ensure my safety. Ric, you're a teacher at the school, and as far as the administration is concerned, mine and Jeremy's legal guardian at the moment. You can get us our school work from our teachers, and we can be home-schooled until everything is resolved." Elena explained.

"I'm not staying out of school." Jeremy argued.

"Yes, Jeremy, you are. I can't be the only one who's safety is a concern here. As Ric reminded us, Damon has not hesitated to kill you in the past. There is no way in hell you're going back to school tomorrow. Neither of us are. The principal can't argue with our legal guardian. Until we put a stop to all of the threats against us, you and I are both staying here. It's the only place that Damon, Stefan, Katherine and Finn can't get into. And Elijah will be here as well. And we can get Klaus and Kol to stick around too." Elena replied.

"I'll arrange for Rebekah's school work to be brought here as well." Elijah said.

"What about Matt?" Jeremy asked, eyeing his friend.

"That's up to him. If he wants to stay here, then he can. In all honesty, we could all stay here. You, me, Matt, Rebekah, Caroline, Tyler... the administration can all be compelled into believing that it's a Senior project or something. With you being the only non-Senior in the group. It would keep us all safe." Elena said.

"Wouldn't that just put everyone else at school at risk? If Damon and Stefan show up at the school with Katherine, anything that the faculty is compelled to believe will be called into question the second Katherine puts on the Elena Façade." Alaric commented.

"Not if it's Elijah, Rebekah, Klaus and Kol that are doing the compelling. Just one of them is stronger than Damon, Stefan and Katherine put together." Elena argued.

"Are you sure about this plan, Darling?" Elijah asked.

"We need to ensure the safety of everyone we care about. And if all of us that are school age are together, still getting our school work done, but are doing so in a place that none of the opposing vampires can get into, then we can speed up the timeline of getting everyone moved in, and we can work out a way to get to Bonnie and get her back on our side." Elena replied.

"You're actually considering going along with this, Elijah?" Alaric asked.

"I, unlike your friend, actually support Elena's decisions. If this is what she wants to do, then not only am I considering it, but I will happily go through with it. Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Lockwood can sign off on Caroline and Tyler being home-schooled, while I will be Rebekah's guardian, and you are Elena and Jeremy's legal guardian. Mr. Donovan was legally emancipated from his mother, so if he decides he wants to stay here for the foreseeable future while we all work out how to stop everything that's going on around us, that's his prerogative." Elijah replied.

Alaric took a deep breath and looked away from Elena. He didn't see the silent conversation that transpired between Elena and Jeremy, confirming that Jeremy was on board the decision his sister had made. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye as Jeremy joined Matt on the couch, vaguely heard former ask the latter what he wanted to do, and vaguely heard Matt's response, and confirmation that he also wanted to stay in the building. Letting out a sigh, he turned back to Elena to find Elijah holding her gently and pressing a kiss to her temple.

"Okay... while I still believe that we are going to be putting everyone else at the school in danger with this plan, if you all really believe that it'll help in the long run, then I'll talk Liz and Carol before we talk to the administration at the school. If Liz and Carol don't agree to let Caroline and Tyler stay here and be home-schooled, then there's nothing I can do, and I don't want them to be compelled to agree. But I will still inform the principal that you and Jeremy will be home-schooled for the time being." Alaric said, and Elena gave him a grateful smile. "This isn't some way of avoiding being at school with me, is it?" He asked as an afterthought.

"No, Ric, it isn't. Because we do still need to talk, but Matt, Jeremy and I are all human. You are at least a Hunter. Damon might be unstable, but he isn't stupid enough to attack you at the school, knowing that you keep weapons nearby." Elena replied.

"Damon is spiraling, Elena. There's no telling what he'll do." Alaric argued.

"Wait... I think we're missing something here... Jeremy, you said that Bonnie had been cheating on you with Damon before the start of summer, right?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, why?" Jeremy replied.

"Because I was with Damon almost constantly after Stefan left with Klaus. And Bonnie was never at there, so unless she would wait until I left before she would head over, then there was no way that she was actually cheating on you with Damon. And even more so, when Elijah and I got together, Damon was insistent that I was being compelled. Why, if he was sleeping with Bonnie, would he be that insistent that I go back to him? Maybe she is playing them, making Damon, at least, think that she's against us, but that whatever she's planning, it's too dangerous for us to know, so she's doing what she needs to do to keep us safe?" Elena suggested. "She's the most powerful witch around, she could make Damon think whatever she wants him to. Make him think that I was compelled by Elijah, but knew, deep down, that Elijah would never do anything to purposefully hurt me, and that being with him would be what would keep me safe."

"That's a long shot, Elena. If this was being planned since before the start of the summer, Bonnie would have had no way of knowing that you would call me the night of your birthday." Elijah said.

"Elijah, I still can't explain why neither Jeremy nor Alaric were the ones that I thought of to call. She could have had this all planned. Before she tapped into her powers and accepted that she was a witch, she would have visions. She saw numbers that surrounded our previous history teacher's death... which Damon made happen. She could have gotten glimpses of what was going to happen between us." Elena said. "Bonnie has a very long line of powerful ancestors behind her. Other than her mom, who she hasn't seen or heard from in years leading up to just recently, she's the last of her bloodline."

"So you think that Bonnie saw enough of what was going to happen to orchestrate pretending to cheat on me with Damon, and making sure that Elijah was the one you called the night of your birthday, so that she could keep us safe?" Jeremy asked.

"It would explain why I broke away from Niklaus after the ritual. He had our siblings daggered in coffins. When he said that he was going to reunite me with them, his plan had been to put me back in a coffin as well." Elijah said. "Miss Bennett is quite powerful. Probably more powerful than my mother, so if she were to have seen bits and pieces since at least the ritual, of what was to play out, she would have known what my mother has planned, and knew that my siblings and I would need you and your friends to take our mother down." He added.

"Are we really saying that Bonnie is playing a long con?" Alaric asked.

"Yes, because it makes sense, Ric. Bonnie would do anything to keep her loved ones safe. And she's never liked Damon and tolerates Stefan at best." Elena replied.

"So to protect you from both of them, Bonnie put Elijah's name in your head on your birthday, ensuring that you would call him. Being around him made you realize how badly of a situation you were in with Damon and Stefan. Are you thinking that it was her influence that made me think I was in love with you, to ensure that you would stay with Elijah?" Alaric asked.

"I hadn't thought about that part, but it would make sense. Everything that has happened since my birthday, and even before then, can be explained by Bonnie using magic to keep us safe." Elena said.

"And she probably knew that with Elena and Elijah together, it would paint an even bigger target on their backs in Esther's eyes, which would mean forging an alliance between Esther, Finn, Damon and Stefan. Katherine is only in on it because she thinks she'll get Elijah back." Jeremy said.

"There's no way Katherine would willingly go along with Esther's plan if she knew the whole truth of what will happen if Esther succeeds. Katherine might only know that Klaus would be gone, making her free from him." Elena said with a nod.

"With this new information, I think it's time I know what Esther plans to do." Alaric commented.

"I'd like to know about that too." Matt said.

"My mother plans to use Elena's blood to bind my siblings and I together, and then my brother Finn will sacrifice himself to kill us all. And then, once we are all dead, our Sire lines will die as well, eliminating every single vampire that has ever been created. Niklaus' Sire line trickles down to Katerina, Damon, Stefan... and Caroline." Elijah explained.

"WHAT!?"

The question came from both Matt and Alaric, and it was an understandable reaction. And it was a good part of the reason that Elena hadn't wanted Alaric to know the truth.

"Does Caroline know she's in danger of dying if Esther succeeds?" Matt asked.

"She does." Elena said with a nod.

"And this is why you didn't want me knowing, isn't it? Because you thought my friendship with Damon was stronger than the need to protect you and your friends?" Alaric questioned, staring straight at Elena.

"Before everything that has happened in the past few weeks, happened, what would you have done with this information, Ric?" Elena countered.

"I..." Alaric replied before letting out a sigh, "I would have gone to tell Damon so that he and Stefan could prepare for the worse." He finished.

"You seem to forget how well I know you, Ric. Given that everything has come to light since what happened between us, I didn't want you to be in a position where you had to choose between your family and your friend." Elena responded.

"You were looking out for me." Alaric said, and Elena nodded. "But Elena, I'm your step-father, I should be the one looking out for you, not you looking out for me."

"It's what I do, Ric. I look out for the people I love and care about." Elena said. "But I think we need to round everyone up at mine and Elijah's apartment, and tell them what we figured out." She suggested.

"So much for you getting some rest." Elijah commented.

"Even if this hadn't happened, Elijah, I doubt I would have gotten much sleep. There is too much going on in my mind to get a good amount of rest."

"Okay, we'll get everyone together, including Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Lockwood, and clue everyone in." Jeremy said with a nod. "You good to stand on your own, man?" He asked, looking at Matt.

"Yeah, I'm all good. Thank you, Elijah." Matt replied with a nod to the Original.

"You're welcome, Matthew." Elijah replied with a nod in return.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

They planned for everyone to come over for dinner to let everyone else know about the realization that Elena had come to about Bonnie's actions as of late. It made Elena feel better knowing that they had a legitimate explanation that could explain everything that had been happening in all of their lives. And that she might have finally figured out why Bonnie was treating her so poorly. But even with the knowledge that she now had, that didn't help alleviate the tension in her body. Tension that she knew would dissipate with a bath. So, while Alaric had gone to talk to Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Lockwood, and Jeremy and Matt went to get their friends, Elena and Elijah returned to their apartment, and Elena excused herself to go up and take a shower.

After their last shower together, Elena wasn't anticipating Elijah's presence, but when the shower door opened behind her, and she felt his arms around her waist, Elena didn't hesitate to melt into his embrace. She was surprised, however, when Elijah grabbed the body wash, along with a loofa, and started massaging the soap over her body. Once she was covered in soap suds, Elijah moved Elena under the stream of water to rinse her off before gently pushing her against the wall and pressing his lips to hers. Neither of them sought entrance to the other's mouth, and Elijah simply let his hands rest on Elena's hips while Elena's arms wrapped around Elijah's neck. It was intimate, but not deeply passionate. And Elena couldn't help but long for more kisses like this one in the future.

"Will I be able to hold you tonight, my dear?" Elijah asked against Elena's lips when she pulled away for air.

"Definitely. I'm sorry I didn't confide in you with what I was feeling." Elena replied.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Elena. You were hurt, and all you could think about was the possibility of losing me. Deep in your subconscious, you were probably thinking that if you told me, I would leave voluntarily. And you didn't want to lose me any way, so you kept it to yourself." Elijah replied.

"I was being selfish." Elena commented.

"Yes, you were, and I wish you would be selfish more often. For instance, knowing when you need to take some time to help yourself, rather than spreading yourself so thin helping everyone else that you have a mental break." He replied. "I would prefer that my beautiful girlfriend live long enough to graduate high school, and one day, hopefully, become my beautiful wife." He continued. "But that won't happen if you don't take care of yourself." He finished.

"You want to marry me some day?" She asked.

"More than anything, Elena."

"Elena Mikaelson does have a nice ring to it."

"That it does. But please don't mention this to Rebekah. I want you to focus on finishing school before I propose marriage properly and my sister starts planning the wedding."

"School isn't the only thing that we need to take care of before you propose properly."

"Yes, school and our enemies. Then showing you the world before getting down on one knee and asking you to spend the rest of eternity saddled with my family's name as your own."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, there's already 2 Mikaelson siblings that I don't mind."

"I'm wounded by that, Elena."

"Of course you are, because Rebekah and Kol are so much more fun."

"And what of Niklaus?"

"He's getting there. But you, Elijah Mikaelson, are my absolute favorite of your family."

"Thank you, my darling. I try."

"I mean, why wouldn't I say you're my favorite? You just pre-proposed marriage to me."

"Is that the only reason I'm your favorite?"

"It might be..."

Elena squealed when Elijah started tickling her sides. Lucking she hadn't wrapped her legs around his waist, so Elena had a much easier time trying to escape Elijah's very capable and torturous fingers than she normally would. Unfortunately, even in the shower, Elijah was faster than Elena, and in the time it took Elena to wiggle away from the assault, Elijah had turned the water off and was blocking the shower door.

"You don't play fair, Mikaelson." Elena said with a pout.

"All's fair in love and war, Ms. Gilbert. I'd thought you would know that by now." Elijah replied as he slowly walked towards her, causing Elena to back up into the back corner of the shower.

"We don't have time for games, Elijah." Elena tried pushing against Elijah's chest, but he wouldn't budge.

"Who said we were playing games? I haven't been able to properly kiss or touch you in 3 days, Elena. We have a lot of time to catch up on." Elijah replied while wrapping his arms around Elena's waist and pulling her body flush against his.

"But we have out friends and family coming over for dinner, so we can tell everyone what I realized about Bonnie's actions all summer." Elena reminded him.

"My dear, sweet, darling Elena. Our friends and family can entertain themselves for a little bit while we make up. I'm not talking about having sex, I'm talking about holding you in my arms, and covering your body with kisses." Elijah responded.

"That does sound amazing, but we should really get downstairs and get something together for our guests to eat." Elena said, a shiver running down her spine at Elijah's intense gaze.

"You're not trying to avoid being alone with me, are you Elena?" Elijah asked while taking a step back.

"Of course not, Elijah." Elena replied reaching for his hands. "I just don't want to be rude to our family and friends." She added.

Elijah nodded, his lips in a tight line. He wanted to believe Elena, and he did, to a degree, but something else made him think that she was lying, and he hated thinking that about the woman he loved. Maybe it was because she had been so distant the last few days, or maybe there was something else that she was keeping from him, but whatever it was, Elijah couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else going on here that Elena wasn't saying.

"Elijah are you okay?" Elena asked slowly.

"What aren't you telling me, Elena?" Elijah replied.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Elena said, giving him a genuinely confused look.

"There's something that you aren't telling me, I can feel it. Whatever it is, you can tell me." Elijah explained.

"I've told you everything that I've been feeling and thinking about over the last few days. There's nothing else that I was keeping from you, Elijah." Elena said as a wave of nausea washed over her and she quickly pushed past him and out of the shower, barely making it to the toilet before getting sick.

"Elena!"

Elijah knew his yell was loud enough for any of their friends and family downstairs to hear, so he knew he needed to move quickly. He flashed to the closet and got back to the bathroom and to Elena, getting her into one of his shirts and himself into a pair of pants just in time for Alaric and Jeremy to come rushing in. Elijah could vaguely hear the other two men asking what happened, but his focus was on Elena as she threw up again.

"This can't be happening. Not now." Elena said in a small voice.

"We need to get you to the hospital, Elena." Alaric commented as he sat down on Elena's opposite side than Elijah.

"No... I'll stay here. I'll rest while you all tell the others what's going on. I'll be fine." Elena argued.

"We need to get to Bonnie now more than ever." Elijah said.

"Why? What's wrong with my sister?" Jeremy asked.

"It's not that something is wrong with her Jeremy, this is my mother's doing." Elijah said. "Elena is pregnant."

"How is that even possible?" Alaric asked, trying his hardest to not see the mental image of Elena and Elijah being together in _that_ way.

"As I said, this is my mother's doing. She must have kept the blood that she got from Elena at the ball over the weekend and used it to magically get Elena pregnant with my child. Without running the risk of it being half vampire." Elijah explained.

"I'm not ready to be a mother." Elena whispered as she looked up at Elijah.

"I know, my darling, I know." Elijah replied wrapping his arms around her.

"So you're saying we need Bonnie to... what? End the pregnancy before Elena gets too far along?" Jeremy asked.

"Essentially, yes. My mother is powerful, Bonnie is more powerful. So if my mother can use magic to get Elena pregnant, Bonnie should be able to reverse the spell."

"And if Bonnie's plan hasn't been completed yet and she won't come help Elena?" Jeremy asked.

"If what Elena believes about Bonnie's actions turns out to be true, and Bonnie has only been acting in ways to protect you both, she will know that Elena isn't ready to be a mother at 18, and this baby will not keep her safe." Elijah replied. "Are my brothers downstairs?" He asked, turning from Jeremy to Alaric.

"Yes. Why?" Alaric questioned.

"Go with them to the Boarding House. Don't tell them why until you're half way there. Get Bonnie and bring her back here." Elijah instructed.

Once Alaric was gone, Elijah turned to Jeremy, instructing him to go get a towel from the kitchen, wetting it with cold water and bring it back up to the bathroom, along with a bottle of Ginger Ale. Only once they were alone again did Elena break down.

"I'm scared Elijah. Why would she do this to us? To me?" Elena asked through her sobs.

"My mother is going for the ultimate heartbreak. Getting you magically pregnant with my child, only to take me away from you, leaving you alone, pregnant at 18 and in your last year of high school, with no one to support you or the baby." Elijah replied as he lifted her up into his arms and carried her to the bed.

"How was she even able to manage ensuring it's yours?" Elena asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised if my mother somehow had some of my blood from before she turned my siblings into vampires. The offspring of a doppelgänger and that of an untapped witch would be extremely powerful, and untainted by being a vampire."

"So even with being dead for nearly as long as you've been a vampire, she somehow managed to keep some of your blood, and probably some of Finn, Kol and Rebekah's blood as well, all this time, and most likely used a mix of our blood to make me pregnant. That seems like a lot of work."

"Okay, here's the towel and the Ginger Ale... Elena, how far along are you?" Jeremy asked coming to a stop at the end of the bed and staring at his sister's stomach.

"I can't be... no, no, no!" Elena cried out when she looked down and saw that she already had a baby bump.

"Jeremy, call Alaric and tell him to hurry up." Elijah instructed as Elena took hold of his hand and tightened her grip.


	25. Chapter 25

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 25

By the time Alaric, Klaus and Kol got to the Salvatore Boarding House, all three were completely pissed off. Just after Alaric had explained the situation to Klaus and Kol, he had gotten a call from Jeremy telling him to hurry because Elena's condition was being sped up. Relaying the update to the other two, they hurried their pace to reaching Bonnie. Surely once she heard of Elena's condition, she would drop the pretense of being against her friends and help save Elena. The only thing that made their mission to get to the Bennett witch was that she was already walking out of the front door and striding toward the three of them by the time they reached the front lawn.

"What are you all doing here? You'll ruin everything." Bonnie said, her voice low in a stern whisper.

"Elena needs your help. Our mother has magically impregnated Elena and is using that same magic to speed up Elena's pregnancy." Klaus explained.

"That's not possible." Bonnie denied.

"It shouldn't be possible, but Elena needs you, Bonnie. You're the only one that can save her." Alaric said. "She's been your best friend since childhood. You should know better than anyone that she wouldn't want to be a mother at 18. And if her suspicions about why you've been acting so out of character are correct, which I'm really starting to believe they are, you need to put a stop to this act immediately and save her." He said.

"Please, Bonnie. We don't want anything to happen to Elena. But if we don't hurry, then Elena could give birth to a child she isn't ready for by the end of day." Kol begged.

"I don't even know who _you_ are." Bonnie replied, rounding on Kol.

"This is my younger brother, Kol." Klaus made a quick introduction. "Kol, Bonnie Bennett. Now can we go please? If Elena is freaking out, then Elijah is close to losing it." He added motioning for Bonnie to leave with them.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'm so close to bringing a stop to what your mother plans, I can't leave." Bonnie said.

"Are you serious Bonnie? You've been trying to protect Elena and Jeremy all summer, right? How is truly turning your back on Elena when she needs you the most protecting her?" Alaric asked.

"She's supposed to have the baby, Ric. That baby helps protect all of you. I didn't realize that this is how the baby is brought into the world, but Elena and Elijah need to keep the baby. I can't stop it." Bonnie insisted.

At that moment, Alaric, Klaus and Kol's phones all chimed with incoming texts from Caroline telling them to get their asses back to the apartment and to do whatever it takes to get Bonnie back there with them. With a sigh, Alaric looked to Klaus and Kol before turning to Bonnie.

"I'm sorry Bonnie, but Elena needs you right now, even if you can't stop the pregnancy and birth, then come with us to be by her side and explain why you had to let her go through with this." Alaric said.

"Fine. But I can't stay away long. Damon and Katherine already suspect that I'm playing both sides." Bonnie said.

"Thank you." Alaric said, and the quartet left.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Damon watched from the window as Alaric showed up with Klaus, and another Original Vampire. He wasn't surprised that they were here, Esther had said that they would come for Bonnie. So seeing Bonnie meet them in the middle of the yard wasn't a surprise either. But he had been sure that Bonnie would stay, so after what seemed like a heated debate, and a text to Alaric and the two Originals, to see Bonnie leave with them, it threw Damon for a loop. A sensation that he never enjoyed.

"Did they come?" Stefan asked as he and Katherine walked into the room.

"Yes, and Bonnie left with them. Esther's plan is in motion. Elena must be pregnant." Damon replied, his jaw set in a hard line.

"Do either of you have a bad feeling about the rest of Esther's plan?" Katherine asked.

"Not going soft on us, are you Katherine?" Damon questioned.

"Of course not. I want to be free of Klaus, but I just feel like Esther is keeping something from us. Surely linking her children and Finn sacrificing himself for them to all die and kill Klaus isn't the whole story. There has to be ripples in the aftereffect." Katherine replied.

"What, like any vampires that they turned and so on all die?" Stefan suggested.

"That's exactly what's going to happen."

The three young(er) vampires spun around to face the Original that was leaning against the archway to the great room.

"Come again?" Damon asked.

"All of you will be dead once Mother's plan is finished. She sees us all, and every vampire that stemmed from us, as abominations, and I agree. Which is why I offered to be the sacrifice. It won't be instantaneous, but once we are all dead, all of our Sire Lines will die out as well. Every person we turned into a vampire, and every person that they turned, and so on, all the way down to the 3 of you, and any of your little friends that you've turned here in Mystic Falls, will be dead." Finn explained.

"And you didn't think it was pertinent to tells us this from the beginning?" Stefan asked.

"Mother didn't think it mattered. She still doesn't. You'll all be dead soon enough, so there was no point elaborating how Ms. Petrova will be free of Niklaus." Finn replied.

"As long as Elena is free of Elijah's compulsion with the death of all vampires, then I'm good with dying." Damon said.

"Are you really that idiotic? Elena Gilbert is _not_ being compelled by my brother. She willingly gave up on the both of you to be with my brother, and my mother is using that connection to my brother to power the spell that impregnated Elena." Finn said with a roll of his eyes.

"You're lying." Damon said, his hands clenching into fists.

"What reason would I have to lie to you with Mother's plan so close to being complete?" Finn challenged.

"He's right Damon, Elijah didn't need to compel Elena. I noticed the connection between them from the beginning, I was just choosing to ignore it, believing that Elena's love for me was stronger than any infatuation she had with Elijah."

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

When Alaric, Klaus, Kol and Bonnie got back to Elena and Elijah's apartment, they could already hear Elena's screams. Bonnie and Alaric wasted no time in rushing upstairs while Klaus and Kol remained downstairs with Tyler, Matt and Mayor Lockwood.

"How is she doing?" Klaus asked.

"The sped up pregnancy is taking too much of a toll on her. They don't know how much more she can take." Mayor Lockwood said.

"Meredith Fell showed up just a little bit ago. Like, just a few minutes before you all got back here with Bonnie." Matt added.

"Jeremy and Caroline? Sheriff Forbes?" Kol questioned.

"They're all up there with Elena and Elijah. At the rate your mother's spell is going, the two of you will have a niece or nephew within hours." Tyler replied.

"I take it Rebekah is up there as well?" Klaus inquired.

"Yeah. Elena insisted that they all be up there." Matt said.

"Well, boys, since there is nothing we can do to help, I could all of your assistance in the kitchen getting dinner together." Mayor Lockwood said motioning for all four of them to head into the other room.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

"Elena, come on darling, I need you stay with me." Elijah urged as Alaric and Bonnie rushed into the room.

"I can't, Elijah. It hurts too much. I can't do this." Elena sobbed.

"Elena, look at me." Bonnie urged as she took Caroline's spot on the bed next to Elena.

"Bonnie, please help me." Elena begged.

"I can't stop this, Elena. I'm so sorry. You and Elijah need this child." Bonnie said. "And Esther has you too far along now, I couldn't stop it even if I wanted to without hurting you or the baby." She said.

"I can't have a baby, Bonnie. I'm only 18 and we start Senior year tomorrow." Elena cried.

"I am so, so sorry Elena." Bonnie replied. "The best I can do is ease the pain." She added.

"Whatever you need to do, Bonnie. Do it. I will not lose Elena or our baby." Elijah said.

"No, no, please! I can't do this! I don't want to be a teen mother!" Elena cried.

Elijah felt his heart breaking at Elena's words. Sure, she wasn't saying that she didn't want to have kids at all, but she _was_ saying that she wanted to get rid of their baby. Even if this was the ultimate fast track to having a child; going through all 9 months of pregnancy in a matter of a couple of hours, to hear the woman he loved beg for her best friend to stop the pregnancy, it hurt, but Elijah understood Elena's fear. Being a teen mother meant the human life that he had wanted her to live wasn't going to happen, and if it did, it would be made even more difficult with an infant on her hip. And while Elijah had no qualms with being a stay-at-home dad, he had a feeling that Elena would unintentionally use that very idea as a way to distance herself from the stigma of being a teen mom.

"Elena, at the rate this pregnancy is advancing, you'll be having contractions soon. I'm going to need you to push." Meredith Fell said. Up until that point she had been mostly silent as she did what she could to take Elena and the baby's vitals, given the quick progress at which the baby was growing.

"Elijah, please, I can't do this." Elena said, her voice low and broken, her eyes full of fear as she turned her head towards him.

"I'm right here with you, Elena. You aren't going through this alone." Elijah said as he squeezed Elena's hand before leaning up and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Promise me..." Elena trailed off as another scream tore from her throat.

"I promise you, my dear, sweet, darling Elena, I will never leave you. You will not lose me. I will always be here for you and our baby." Elijah replied, knowing where Elena had been going with her sentence.

"Okay, I need everyone else to leave." Meredith said, glancing at Sheriff Forbes, Alaric, Jeremy and Caroline.

"No, Caroline stays." Elena said quickly.

"What can I do?" Caroline asked.

"Help Meredith. I need you to help Meredith." Elena replied as the first contraction hit her.

"Caroline, I need you to grab me some clean towels. Bonnie, you need to ease Elena's pain before she gives birth, or this could end badly for both of them." Meredith instructed.

"I know what I need to do, but I don't know how." Bonnie said.

"Bonnie, this is your best friend. Figure it out, quickly." Elijah urged.

"Okay." Bonnie said with a nod, but her eyes still shone with fear that she would only make things worse by not knowing what she was doing.

Everything from there seemed to go in slow motion while simultaneously speeding up. But within the hour, Meredith was placing a little baby boy into Elena's arms. And once she was sure that Elena and the baby were both okay, Meredith ushered Bonnie and Caroline out of the room, leaving only Elijah in the room with mother and son. Despite her earlier insisting that she couldn't give birth and that she wasn't ready to be a mother, Elijah took notice of the small smile that pulled at Elena's lips as she ran a finger along their son's cheek. At least now he knew how they had a son that looked like he had when he was a child. He didn't approve of how it had happened, but he wouldn't trade this child or Elena for anything.

"He's beautiful." Elena whispered.

"I'm proud of you, Elena. I know that you didn't want to be a teen mother, but this is just another reason for you to stay here and do your school work here. Our son will be with both of his parents, and then after you graduate, we can leave Mystic Falls, and no one outside of our friends and family will need to know the truth about his birth." Elijah commented as he moved from the chair next to the bed to sitting next to Elena on the bed and wrapping his arms around her and their son.

"He needs a name." Elena said glancing up at Elijah.

"I can tell you what our son's name was in my dream, and you can let me know if you like it or not." Elijah suggested.

"I'd like that." Elena said with a nod.

"Raynor Grayson." Elijah said.

"I like Raynor, but not so much Grayson. I know that it would be honoring the man that raised me, but I don't want to name our son after a man that hunted Vampires." Elena said while crinkling her nose.

"So that eliminates Mikael as well." Elijah commented.

"Yes, it does. And John is out too. I never liked my biological father." Elena said before an idea hit her. "What about Raynor Henrik? To honor his uncle?" She suggested.

"I love it, and I'm sure my siblings will love it as well." Elijah replied with a smile.

"And there's only one grandparent that will be in his life, so we should probably have Alaric come up and meet his grandson." Elena said.

"I'll go get him." Elijah agreed with a nod, placing a kiss on Elena's forehead before leaving the room to head downstairs.

"You will be so loved, Raynor. Mommy and Daddy have so many people that love us that will love you too." Elena whispered while leaning down to kiss the top of the baby's head.

As she waited for Elijah to come back up with Alaric, Elena hummed softly to her son. Looking into his eyes, Elena knew that she would be able to be a teen mother. She would have Elijah to support her, and her friends and family would do what they could to help her. Plenty of aunts and uncles to watch him when Elena and Elijah needed a night to themselves. When Alaric got upstairs and to the doorway, Elena was gently rocking the baby boy in her arms. Alaric got a flash of what Isobel must have looked like when she gave birth to Elena 18 years ago, and his heart hurt for a moment, but hearing his step-daughter humming softly to his grandson, or step-grandson, he couldn't stop the smile that appeared on his face.

"Can I come in, Elena?" Alaric asked softly.

"Of course. You need to meet your grandson." Elena said with a smile as she looked over at him.

"Not step-grandson?" Alaric questioned.

"You're the only grandparent that he's going to know and is going to have in his life, Ric. He's your grandson." Elena explained.

"What's his name?" He asked as he walked towards the bed.

"Raynor Henrik." Elijah replied.

"Henrik? I take it that's a family name?" He inquired.

"My youngest brother, who was killed by a werewolf. It was his death that spurred my parents to turn me and my siblings into vampires." Elijah explained.

"What do the names mean?" Alaric asked.

"Henrik means 'ruler of the home' in German, Raynor means 'counsel' or 'mighty army'." Elijah responded.

"Strong names. Out of curiosity, why didn't you go with any of your family names, Elena?"

"None of them worked for him." Elena replied. "I have no intention of becoming a vampire any time soon. So I have time to have other children that could have names to honor members on my side of the family." She added.

"May I hold him?" Alaric asked.

"Come on Raynor, let's go see Grandpa Ric." Elena whispered as she moved to place the baby in Alaric's arms.

"He's amazing, Elena. You did amazing." Alaric commented.

"You mean in the day that I was pregnant, thanks Ric." Elena said with a smirk.

"I'm serious, Elena. For not being ready to be a mother, you did amazingly well. You can do anything you put your mind to, even if you think you're wanting to do the opposite."

"I firmly put my mind on not having a child today. But there was no way to stop it when you got back with Bonnie." Elena replied.

"And now? Do you still not want your son?"

"I'm not going to give him up, if that's what you're asking me."

"Alaric, please don't antagonize my girlfriend right now. She's had a bit of a stressful day." Elijah chided while lifting his son into his arms.

"You're still sticking with that term?" Alaric asked.

"We've been dating for 3 weeks, Ric. Just because we have a magic baby after 1 day of me being pregnant, doesn't change the timeline of how long we've been together. And I'm not going to be engaged at 18." Elena said, her gaze hard.

"You said the same thing about having a child." Alaric pointed out.

"I was pregnant for less than 24 hours, Alaric. And even that was done using magic." Elena argued. "As much as I had wished once it started that it could be stopped, there was nothing that Bonnie could do. But Elijah and I getting is something that we _can_ control. And we're on the same page with that topic." She finished.

"Alaric, as I said, Elena has had a stressful day. And our son has more family that need to meet him." Elijah said as he rocked the baby.

"All I'm saying is that, given the change in circumstances, that maybe the two of you should revisit the topic of getting married." Alaric said as he held his hands up in surrender before leaving the room. "Who would you like me to send up next?" He asked, sticking his head back in.

"Jeremy, Rebekah, Klaus and Kol." Elena said.

"All at once, my dear?" Elijah questioned.

"Yes, they are his blood relatives." Elena said with a nod.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Rebekah was pacing at the bottom of the stairs, and Jeremy had already given up on getting her to relax and to sit down or eat something. Klaus and Kol hadn't even attempted talking to their sister. They were all anxious about Elena and the baby, and nothing any of them said or did would be able to calm each other down. When Alaric came back downstairs, he motioned for the four of them to head upstairs, and they couldn't get up there fast enough. With a grateful smile, he took the plate of food that Liz handed him before sitting down at the kitchen table.

"How are mother and baby?" Liz asked.

"Mother and son are doing okay. But I can tell that Elena is still concerned about being a teen mother." Alaric replied.

"They have a baby boy?" Carol asked as she handed Alaric a glass of water.

"Yeah, named him Raynor Henrik." He said.

"Interesting choice of name. I'd have thought Elena would have wanted to name a son after Grayson." Liz commented.

"Elena wouldn't want to name her son, who is the son of a vampire, after a man that hunted Vampires." Caroline commented as she took the seat next to Alaric.

"She also said that none of the names in her side of the family fit for her son." Alaric added.

"And really, it isn't any of our business why Elena and Elijah chose the name that they did. He is their son, they can name him whatever they want, for whatever reason they want." Bonnie said.

"Bonnie, you said something about their child being important in stopping Esther. How exactly is a new born supposed to help with that?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know. I just know that he is." Bonnie replied with a shrug.


	26. Chapter 26

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 26

Despite Klaus technically being the fastest amongst his siblings, due to his status as a Hybrid, Rebekah was the first up the stairs and into the bedroom. Elijah had moved to resume his seat on the bed next to Elena, and he still had Raynor in his arms when Rebekah came into the room. A huge smile broke out on the blonde's face at the sight before her. When Klaus, Kol and Jeremy came to a stop just behind her, similar smiles appeared on their faces as well.

"What's his name?" Rebekah asked in a soft voice.

"Raynor Henrik Mikaelson." Elena replied, watching the expressions on Rebekah, Klaus and Kol's faces at hearing their nephew's middle name.

"Henrik... he would be thrilled to have his nephew named after him." Klaus responded.

"We wanted to honor him. As the names of our fathers were all out of the running." Elijah said.

"Yes, Raynor Mikael Mikaelson would have been a mouthful." Kol joked. "And the poor kid would have been laughed at." He added.

"It's not just Mikael's name that was out of the running. But Grayson and John as well. I didn't want to us to honor anyone that hunted vampires, given that his own father is a vampire." Elena explained.

"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" Kol asked.

"Mine and Elena's fathers." Jeremy said. "Our family, as a "founding family" of Mystic Falls, was in the business of hunting down and eliminating Vampires." He explained. "I'm with Elena on not wanting to name a child after any of them." He said while taking Rebekah's hand in his.

"Fathers? As in, the two of you have different fathers?" Klaus asked.

"John Gilbert is my biological father. Grayson Gilbert, who is Jeremy's father, is my paternal uncle, but when Isobel gave birth to me, Grayson and Miranda adopted me, and raised me as their daughter." Elena explained. "Isobel was only 16 when she had me." She added.

"On the brightside, you went 2 years past that before getting knocked up." Kol said.

"She wasn't 'knocked up', Kol." Elijah snapped.

"Technically, she was. Just not by conventional means, Brother." Kol argued.

"Elena, please take our son." Elijah said, glaring at his youngest brother, who had the good sense to take a step back. "Never insinuate that what happened to Elena today was in any way a result of the usual methods of getting pregnant. She did not want to have a child at 18 years old, this was forced upon her by our mother, most likely with the added plan of killing us all very soon so that I could not be around to support her or my son. Do I make myself clear, Kol?"

"Crystal. I'm sorry Elena." Kol said with a nod.

"Can I hold him?" Jeremy asked as he fully entered the room and walked around to the far side of the bed where Elena was sitting, holding the now sleeping baby boy.

"Sure, just be careful. Elijah got him to sleep and I don't want to wake him." Elena said and waited until Jeremy was sitting in the chair that Elijah had been occupying earlier to hand him her son.

"He'll be fine, Elena. Even if he does wake up, I'll rock him back to sleep." Jeremy said with a smirk.

Elena nodded once before leaning back against the pillows. She was exhausted, but that was to be expected. She had just endured 9 months of pregnancy in the space of a handful of hours, all thanks to magic, and she finally understood the toll that much magic had on Bonnie. Even if it wasn't the exact same thing as what Bonnie went through when she harnessed all of that magic, Elena had at least had a new respect for her best friend and would be mindful in the future on asking Bonnie to do too much. As she watched Jeremy gently rocking Raynor in his arms, and heard Elijah talking to his siblings in a low voice, Elena slowly let her eye lids droop closed and was soon asleep.

"Should we worry about Mother coming for the baby?" Rebekah asked as she watched Jeremy with their nephew.

"I don't know. But now that we have Bonnie back with her friends, and not pretending to hate them, maybe you and Caroline can talk to her about putting a protective ward around the building. Something that will stop even Mother from being able to come in." Elijah replied as he followed his sister's gaze.

"Bonnie might be powerful, but wouldn't that be asking a lot of her? Surely there would be consequences to her using that much magic." Klaus commented.

"The least we can do is talk to her about it, and if she thinks it's more than she can do, then we won't press her on it, and we'll figure out something else." Elijah replied. He didn't want to exhaust Bonnie by pushing her past her limits.

"What exactly can Mother do with a baby made from your blood before being turned into a vampire?" Kol questioned.

"I don't know." Elijah said. "But it honestly frightens me to even consider the possibilities." He added with a sigh.

"I know exactly what she will try to do, and it will have nothing to do with Raynor's blood." Rebekah said bitterly.

"Pray tell, Sister." Klaus said with a raised eyebrow.

"If Mother gets her hands on him, she will most certainly use him to blackmail or leverage to get us to eat or drink anything she gives us that she will have laced with Elena's blood to link us. Threaten to hurt Raynor if we don't comply. She knows that we put family above everything else, and that none of us would want to see one of our own hurt, especially at her hand. We would be put in the spot of choosing between letting her hurt Raynor so that Elijah can be here for Elena or leaving Elena vulnerable to anything else that Mother has planned for after we've all been killed." Rebekah explained.

"As much as I don't want to say this, but Bekah is right. Mother doesn't care about consequences. And after not caring if we survived the spell or not that turned us into Vampires, I don't see her having any qualms with hurting her own grandson to get us to do what she wants." Kol agreed.

"Then how do we keep Raynor and Elena safe if Bonnie doesn't think she can do the spell?" Klaus asked.

"This is something that we need everyone to help with." Elijah replied, his gaze drifting over to his now sleeping girlfriend. "Because I will not lose the woman I love or my son." He added.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

Everyone downstairs was starting to get anxious. They all wanted to meet the little baby boy, but having the aunt and uncles meet him was starting to take longer than Alaric having met him, and with everything that they were facing at the moment, any time that Elijah and Elena stayed away from the group, it caused concern to ripple through everyone. So when there was commotion at the top of the stairs, everyone in the living room turned to see if the new parents were bringing the baby downstairs. When it was just Klaus and Kol, there were a few audible grumbles through the rest of the group.

"Sorry to disappoint you lot. I could carry Kol like he was a baby if that would appease you all." Klaus offered with a slight frown.

"That wouldn't appease them, Brother. They want to see our nephew. We're old news now." Kol said with a smirk as he clapped a hand onto Klaus' shoulder before jumping out of the way of Klaus swinging his arm around.

"Where are Jeremy and Rebekah?" Bonnie asked.

"Upstairs still. Elijah wanted to talk to them. And we were tasked with talking to you, Little Witch." Klaus replied.

"Talk to me about what?"

"A possible protection spell around the building. Elijah doesn't want to force you to do one, if you don't think you can, but seeing as how the building being in Jeremy's name only prevents uninvited vampires from entering, it doesn't stop our Mother from getting entering." Kol explained.

"I'm not sure if I have the strength at the moment to do it, but if I can have a few days to rest up, it might be possible." Bonnie replied.

"That leads us to another thing. Something that everyone else here has already been made aware of." Klaus said, motioning for Bonnie to follow him away from the group.

"I really hope that everything is okay up there. Elena didn't want to be a teen mother." Caroline said, her eyes darting between Klaus and Bonnie, and the top of the stairs.

"Elena's strong, Care, it was probably just the pain of the pregnancy and birth that was making her say that." Matt said offered as he placed a hand on Caroline's shoulder.

"I know, but if on the off chance that it wasn't just the pain talking, they could be having a really difficult conversation about what to do going forward." Caroline replied.

"If that were the case, they wouldn't have had Alaric go up, or their siblings." Tyler commented.

"True. But um, speaking of having difficult conversations... we still need to talk." Caroline replied, finding it hard to meet Tyler's eyes.

"If its about the 2 weeks that you were following Klaus around, there's nothing to talk about. He had you compelled. I get it. He was getting ready for the ball, and everyone in Mystic Falls knows that you are the best party coordinator in town, and he probably didn't think you would say yes if had asked, so he compelled you." Tyler said with a shrug.

"There's more to it, Tyler." Caroline whispered moving towards him.

"You're not about to tell me that he compelled you to sleep with him, are you? Because if you are, then he raped you, and that's not your fault." Tyler said.

"Dude come on. Stop putting on a tough guy façade." Matt chided. "Care wants to talk to you, and even I can tell it's important. Let her talk and give her the curtesy of talking in private." He added.

"I don't need you telling me how to manage my relationship, Matt." Tyler snapped.

"He's just trying to help, Tyler." Caroline retaliated stepping between them. "And he's your best friend, so drop the attitude."

"Fine, you wanna talk, Caroline? Let's talk. How am I supposed to trust you after 2 weeks of absolutely no contact, when I know that you were being compelled for those 2 weeks by a psychotic maniac? How can I trust that he didn't compel you to do something that you wouldn't have normally agreed to do? How can I trust you when you say that he didn't do anything? How can you walk around, expecting everything is perfectly fine between us like nothing happened?" Tyler asked.

"I'm not." Caroline defended, folding her arms across her chest. "Since Klaus released me from his compulsion the night of the ball, I have been trying to find time alone with you to talk to you about all of this. And you have either been dismissive of the whole thing or avoid the topic all together. So I'm sorry if my best friend needing our help looks like me expecting things to be fine and dandy with our relationship. And if that's really how you see me, then maybe we shouldn't be together." She ranted.

"Maybe we shouldn't. It wouldn't have worked out in the long run with us anyway. You're the over self-controlled Vampire and I'm the newbie Werewolf that needs a chaperone during his transformations." Tyler huffed.

"I stayed with you the nights of your transformations because I didn't want you to be alone during them." Caroline said with a taken aback frown.

"Okay, that is enough out of both of you. If you have both forgotten already, there is a newborn upstairs that is probably trying to sleep. But no matter the circumstances surrounding this argument are, you two are going to need to sort them out in private so that Elena and that baby boy have all the help and protection we can give them." Liz said, bringing the fight to a halt. "Matt, you are currently the only one that has started to move into one of the other units, will you be so kind as to bring these two to your place, so they can work out their issues?" She asked.

"Sure thing, Sheriff." Matt said with a nod and turned towards the front door before coming to a stop. "I just remembered something. Something that you should all hear." He said, waiting for everyone's attention before continuing. "Before everything with Elena's pregnancy happened today, we found out that, even though the vampires that are here have been invited into the building by Jeremy, you need to also be invited into the individual apartments, as well. Even though the deed for the building is in Jeremy's name, with our individual "leases", noting us as tenants, we need to invite you into our apartments." He explained.

"And how exactly did you come to this conclusion, Matt?" Caroline asked.

"Earlier today, Elena was helping me unpack my stuff, and Elijah came to help, but he couldn't get into the actual apartment until I invited him in. I don't think he, Rebekah, Elena or Jeremy realized that would happen, but it's just another layer of security for all of us." Matt replied.

"So basically, everything that's going on is just making this building one of the most highly protected, with a multi-layer lowkey protection security system in all of Mystic Falls." Kol commented.

"In simpler terms, yes. But the way I'm seeing it is that Elijah is moving mountains to ensure Elena and their son are safe. And keeping Elena happy by ensuring the safety of her friends and family." Matt replied.

"And while I will need a few days to rest to recharge my magic, I think I should be able to put a protection spell around the building to keep other witches out. And I'll see what I can do about weaving a privacy spell into the protection spell so that no one who's outside the building can hear what's being said inside." Bonnie said as she and Klaus rejoined the group. "And before Matt takes Caroline and Tyler to his apartment for couples counseling, there's something that I need to tell you all as well." She said before going into the Long Con that she had been pulling on Damon and Stefan over the summer.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

To say that Jeremy and Rebekah were surprised when Elijah asked them to be Raynor's godparents would have been an understatement. Rebekah was naturally worried, given that if anything happened to Elijah, were their mother's plan to kill them all succeed, the same thing would happen to herself, and then both Elena and Jeremy would be devastated, but she agreed after Elijah assured her they wouldn't let their mother beat them. Jeremy on the other hand, knowing how much bad luck surrounded the Gilbert family, agreed quite quickly. He didn't want to think about a time when Elena wouldn't be around, but with their lives, he knew that that day could come much sooner than either of them wanted.

Once they had both agreed, Elijah asked for some privacy for him, Elena and Raynor. Noticing that Elena was still asleep, Elijah held Raynor in one arm while using his free hand to pull the covers over Elena. Only once he was sure that she was tucked in completely, Elijah moved around to the other side of the bed, gently placing Raynor in the middle of the bed before laying on his side, facing his son and girlfriend. As he placed a hand lightly on Raynor's stomach, Elijah let his eyes close before falling asleep. The last thought on his mind before he drifted off was of how much he hadn't realized he wanted a family of his own until this very moment. And he would be damned if he let anything happen to Elena or Raynor.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

By the time that Jeremy and Rebekah got back downstairs, there was tension hanging in the air. Caroline was standing incredibly close to Klaus and Matt while glaring at Tyler, who in turn was glaring at Klaus as he tried to comfort Caroline. Everyone else in the room was staring at Bonnie as they tried to get a grasp on everything she had just told them. But before either Jeremy or Rebekah could say or do anything, Klaus whispered something to Caroline, then the two of them were kissing. Jeremy noticed Tyler's jaw tighten at the display, and made to move towards his... _friend?_... but stopped when Tyler moved towards Klaus and Caroline, stupidly grabbed Klaus' arm to pull the Original away from Caroline and punched him.

When Tyler had pulled Klaus away from her, Caroline had stumbled backwards, thankful that Matt had been standing there to catch her. Once she got her footing again, Caroline looked between Tyler and Klaus, ready to separate them herself, only to find Rebekah and Kol already holding Klaus back, while her mom, Jeremy and Alaric held Tyler back. She couldn't stop the small laugh that escaped her lips at the fact that it took 3 non-supernatural people to hold a werewolf back, while it only took 2 original vampires to hold 1 hybrid back.

"Now probably isn't the best time to be laughing, Care." Matt muttered, but Caroline only shrugged.

"If you ever touch me again, you will be dead. I don't care if you're on Elena's safe list, you'll die." Klaus threatened, staring Tyler down.

"Then don't make out with my girl right in front of me." Tyler threw back.

"We literally just saw you two break up, not to mention the fact that I don't think Caroline belongs to anyone." Kol commented, his grip on Klaus loosening slightly.

"This doesn't involve you." Tyler growled.

"Oh, silly me for forgetting that this isn't common knowledge. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Kol snapped.

"That's enough from all of you. Matt, please take Tyler to your place." Liz said, only letting Tyler go once Alaric had nodded that it was okay to do so.

Once everything had settled, and Matt had Tyler out of the apartment, Kol and Rebekah both let go of their brother. When they did, Klaus made a beeline for Caroline and pulled her into a hug. It was only once she could bury her face into Klaus' chest that Caroline broke down and let the tears fall. As everyone else in the room worked on getting ready to push ahead with the plan to get everyone currently living in the building out, and everyone that was in the apartment moved in, Klaus guided Caroline to the couch and sat down before pulling her into his lap and holding her close.

"I'm sorry for the part I played in your relationship ending, love." Klaus said.

"It never would have lasted anyway." Caroline muttered.

"How can you be so sure?" Klaus asked.

"One bite from him and I would die." Caroline replied.

"So you're saying that I'm the safer choice? Bit ironic if you think about it." Klaus said with a smirk.

"Not safer, just different, and maybe, in time, the better choice." Caroline admitted.

"Different because I'm a hybrid that you haven't known your whole life?" Klaus inquired.

"Exactly." Caroline said with a nod before resting her head on Klaus' shoulder.

Shortly after that, Klaus and Caroline were joined on the couch by Jeremy and Rebekah, who both looked like they were going to burst at the seems with joy, despite everything that had transpired that day. When Klaus simply gave his baby sister an expectant look with a raise eyebrow, Rebekah glanced at Jeremy before grinning at Klaus and Caroline.

"Elijah asked Jeremy and I to be Raynor's godparents." Rebekah said.

"THAT IS NOT FAIR!" Kol called from across the room.

"Elena's still human, so there's a chance that once we defeat Mother, she'll eventually want to have more kids." Rebekah replied, not even looking in Kol's direction, but knowing he heard her none-the-less.

"That's amazing, congratulations." Caroline said, a tight smile pulling at her lips.

"I'm sure it is nothing against you, Caroline." Jeremy said. "It's probably just the fact that Rebekah and I have been with them throughout everything the last 3 weeks when Elena in particular felt like both you and Bonnie had abandoned her because of her relationship with Elijah. If they do have more kids later on, I'm positive that Elena will ask you and Bonnie to be the godmothers." He said, taking Caroline's hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

"Thanks, Jer. Elena is lucky to have such a great brother." Caroline said, her tight smile turning into an appreciative one.


	27. Chapter 27

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 27

 **A/N:** So I realized that the timing of the story, compared to when Elena's birthday takes place in canon, is way off, as Elena's birthday is June 22nd, and is therefore not 3 weeks before she would return to school for her senior year. However, given how many chapters I've already written since the time jump to the Mikaelson Family Ball, and the subsequent days after it, I will not be adjusting the timing of the story. I had contemplated having the time discrepancy to canon be explained by the use of Bonnie's magic (like so much else of the story is being explained), but even that would have been too much. So it's staying as is.

After everything that happened the day before, Alaric, Liz and Carol were all in agreement on their kids staying at the apartment building for the beginning of their senior year. While the principal and the rest of the administration had been wary to allow a group of 6 students to do an "at-home-senior-project", at Carol's insistence, being the Mayor, they were all allowed to complete their studies at home. It helped Elena the most, as she was woken up the following morning to a crying baby well before the sun had risen, and she was still exhausted from the magical pregnancy and birth. When Elijah woken up shortly after Elena had, also to Raynor crying, he found his girlfriend looking frazzled and trying to rock their son back to sleep.

"He's either hungry or needs to be changed." Elijah commented.

"I..." Elena said as a blush crept up on her cheeks.

"You don't need to be embarrassed to breast feed our son in front of me, Elena. I've seen a woman breastfeeding before... multiple times, actually." Elijah said and smiled when a flash of jealous anger shone in Elena's eyes. "I have 4 younger siblings, Elena. My mother breastfed all of them." He explained, and the jealousy faded from Elena's eyes.

"It's not so much being embarrassed about the thought of breastfeeding in front of you... it's that I've clearly never done any of this before, and I'm scared that I'm going to mess it up." Elena said with a sigh.

"I'd be concerned if you weren't scared about messing something up. It's not like we had the typical length of time to prepare for a child." Elijah said while sitting up and pulling Elena towards him. "Would you like me to help you get situated?" He asked.

"Yes please." Elena replied as she glanced down at Raynor who's cries had quieted to whimpers at the sound of his parents' voices. "Maybe he's not hungry." She commented hopefully.

"It wouldn't hurt to make sure." Elijah said as he gently took Raynor from Elena's arms so that she could take her top off before handing their son back to her, so she could bring the baby to her chest.

When Raynor latched onto Elena's breast, she let out a low hiss. It was a different sensation to have a baby sucking on her breast than the few times when Elijah, or even Stefan, had done the same thing. But it seemed to do the trick, because Raynor's whimpers came to a stop as well. And for the next 10 minutes or so Elena and Elijah sat there in silence, both just simply watching their son eat. It was only once Raynor stopped sucking on Elena's second breast that the silence was broken.

"We are going to have get a lot of stuff to make this place baby proof." Elena commented.

"We will." Elijah said with a nod. "One of the up sides to having been alive as long as I have been is that I have plenty of money to financially support us having a family." He added.

"We'll also need to eventually get a place that has more than one bedroom." Elena continued.

"We can see what other units are in the building that have at least 2 bedrooms, and we'll switch with one of your friends." Elijah replied.

"We'll have to keep Raynor a secret from everyone in town." Elena said with a sigh.

"We'll be out of Mystic Falls well before anyone even has an inkling of us having a son." Elijah assured.

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Elena accused with narrowed eyes.

"Only if it helps you have piece of mind, my darling Elena." Elijah replied before pressing his lips to her temple.

"What if something happens to us?" Elena asked in a small voice.

"I've already asked Jeremy and Rebekah to be his godparents." Elijah said.

"You didn't think to wait to talk to me about it?" Elena asked, hurt evident in her voice.

"Would you have wanted to ask anyone else? At least for our first child?" Elijah countered.

"Well, no, but... it still should have been a joint decision." Elena replied.

"You were asleep, and I wanted to take something off of your plate. Yesterday was a breaking point for you, Elena. I didn't want you to worry about something like that, not when we were already in silent agreement that we wanted to ask our siblings. But if it makes you feel better, for our next child, whenever we have another one, you can ask the potential godparents if they would accept the honor." Elijah offered.

"Let's um, wait until I've gotten through senior year and graduation and we've dealt with your mother, brother, Damon, Stefan and Katherine before we continue talking about more kids." Elena said, her voice relaying just how scared she was about being a teen mother.

"Of course, darling. Whatever you want." Elijah said with a nod.

Silence fell between them again as they watched their son sleep. The sight of Elena holding their sleeping son was oddly arousing Elijah, but he wouldn't allow himself to give in to the urge. Especially since they didn't have a bassinet to place Raynor in at the moment. He did, however, lean down and place another kiss on Elena's temple, smiling into the kiss when she leaned against him. Elena was content to just sit there, wrapped in Elijah's arms, while holding Raynor, without the rest of the world interrupting the moment, but she was never so lucky as to get everything she wanted, because much too soon, Elijah was getting a call that ruined the moment.

"Alaric, I know that the prospect of taking care of a newborn baby is probably lost on you, as you never had any biological children of your own to take care of from birth, but really, a text would have been more appropriate at this time of day." Elijah said.

" **Sorry, just thought you and Elena would like to know that the principal, although reluctant about it, has agreed to allow Elena, Jeremy, Matt, Caroline, Tyler and Bonnie to be homeschooled for the foreseeable future.** " Alaric replied, internally cringing at the thought that he might have woken his grandson up.

"Thank you for the update, I shall be sure to pass the information on to Elena." Elijah said before hanging up the phone. "You will not have to be apart from me, or our son, during school hours. Alaric, Liz and Carol have managed to get your high school principal to agree to you and your friends being 'homeschooled'. Which is something I extremely pleased about." He said as he turned his attention back to Elena.

"And why exactly are you so pleased about that news?" Elena asked with a small smirk.

"Because I don't have to worry about boys staring the mother of my son up and down like she's a piece of meat. I get you all to myself... for the most part." Elijah replied, placing a small kiss on her lips.

"Was it really just yesterday morning that we came up with the plan to have me and my friends be homeschooled for the start of our senior year?" Elena asked.

"Yes. But as I mentioned earlier, yesterday was a breaking point for you, Elena. You had to see the aftermath of one of your best friends having been attacked by Damon Salvatore; you figured out why Bonnie had been acting the way she has for the summer; and then you were forced to endure 9 months of pregnancy and a painful birth in the matter of hours when you weren't ready to be a mother. Never once when any of our friends and family have said that you've been through a lot have we said it in a joking manner. But it's because of the fact that you've made it through everything that life has thrown at you that I know you will be an amazing mother to our son." Elijah replied.

"What did I do to deserve you?" Elena asked as she blinked back tears.

"You are a doppelgänger, Elena. My family, my very existence to this day, has been tied to your bloodline for over 1000 years." Elijah replied.

"So... just being born to the Petrova bloodline. Got it." Elena grumbled.

"That's not what I meant, Elena." Elijah said with a sigh. "Yes, because of being a Petrova, our paths were bound to cross at some point, but you being yourself- your loving, compassionate, selfless self- that's what attracted me to you." He said.

"But the others..." Elena trailed off.

"Mean nothing to me. No matter what Katerina thinks, I will never go back to her. You are the one that I want. _You_ are the mother of my child. _You_ are the one that I love. It's you, Elena. It's always been you." Elijah explained.

"I used to think the same thing about Stefan. Look what happened there." Elena commented.

Elijah pulled away from Elena at that to look at her properly. She was reverting back to the mindset of when they first got together three weeks previous, and it concerned Elijah immensely. Lifting their son from Elena's arms, Elijah held Raynor to him as he stared at Elena, noticing that her eyes were slightly glazed over. Holding Raynor in one arm, Elijah reached out to take Elena's hand with his free one.

"Elena, darling, are you okay?" Elijah asked slowly.

"I should get ready for school. Don't want to be late for the first day." Elena replied, glancing at him, but not really seeing him.

"Elena, look at me." Elijah said sternly.

"I don't have time for this, Elijah. I need to get ready for school." Elena repeated.

"You're doing your school work here, with your friends, remember? So that you can stay safe from my mother, the Salvatore brothers and Katherine." Elijah said. "And to be with our son."

"That's impossible, Elijah. We don't have a son. Vampires can't have children." Elena said with a giggle.

"Dammit Elena, look. At. Me." Elijah demanded, his voice the sternest he'd ever used with her.

"Elijah?" Elena asked when her gaze focused on him and her eyes cleared.

"Thank goodness." Elijah breathed out.

"What happened?" Elena questioned.

"You reverted, somewhat, mentally to when we first got back together. Either that, or you were under some sort of spell that made you forget about the safety measures we're taking to combat our enemies." Elijah said, subconsciously moving Raynor away from Elena when she reached for him.

"Let me hold our son, Elijah." Elena demanded.

"Elena, with whatever just happened, you didn't even remember that we have a son." Elijah commented.

"So... what? You don't think I can be trusted to hold Raynor?" She asked.

"I know it's cruel, but until we can figure out what just happened, I don't want you to hold him. I don't want you to be holding him and then have the same thing happen that you forget him, and he gets hurt, because when you come to, you'll hate yourself for hurting him." He said. "I'm doing this for both of you." He added.

Elena nodded before leaving the room while pulling Elijah's shirt on, ducking her head to keep Elijah from seeing the tears in her eyes. She knew that he had a valid point, and she didn't want to hurt Raynor. So she understood where Elijah was coming from, but that didn't eliminate the hurt that welled in her heart at her boyfriend not wanting her to hold their son. What if she never had another episode or whatever it was that just happened? Would Elijah ever let her hold Raynor again? Elena didn't know the answers to those questions, and that scared her. By the time that Elena got downstairs, her vision had blurred from unshed tears, and she didn't see Alaric coming into the apartment until she literally ran into him.

"Elena? What happened? Are you okay?" Alaric asked.

"More or less. Are you here to see Raynor? He's upstairs with his father." Elena replied, wiping away the few tears that had escaped and moving around Alaric to head for the kitchen.

Alaric looked between Elena and the top of the stairs where Elijah had appeared holding Raynor. The pained look on Elijah's face told Alaric that something had transpired, and that he wouldn't get an answer from his step-daughter. Leaving Elena to do herself in the kitchen, Alaric took the stairs two at a time to get up to Elijah.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I'm not entirely sure... but Elena sort of reverted in her mind to when we first got together. She didn't remember Raynor. She didn't remember that she's not going to be physically going to school until we deal with my mother. I don't know if it's some form of post-partum depression, or a spell, or a sort of compulsion. All I know is that to keep both Elena and Raynor safe, I can't allow her to hold him until we figure this out. I don't want her to have another episode while holding him, and have him get hurt, only for her to hate herself when she comes back to." Elijah explained.

"Maybe there's something Meredith could do?" Alaric suggested.

"Speaking of Doctor Fell, did anyone see her leave yesterday?" Elijah asked.

"I didn't, but I figured she left shortly after the delivery. You know, once she had made sure that both Elena and Raynor were okay." Alaric said.

"We need to find her. I don't like not knowing things, and if she did something to Elena before she left, I want to know what it was." Elijah said.

"Elena just referred to you as Raynor's father. She didn't use your name or refer to you as her boyfriend. She distanced herself from you Elijah." Alaric said, his voice relaying his worry.

"She's upset, Alaric. He moved Raynor away from her after I got her to break out of whatever mindset she was in. I told her that until we figure out what happened, I didn't want her holding him. It's a defense mechanism for her. A way to try to keep the hurt at bay. It will only eat at her more." Elijah replied with a sigh. "Please take Raynor. I need to go talk to Elena." He said handing his son off to the other man.

Once Elijah was sure that Alaric safely had Raynor in his arms, he headed downstairs to the kitchen. He could hear the sniffles that Elena was trying to hide, and his heart broke. He hated that every time something good happened, something bad immediately followed. He didn't want to keep their son away from Elena, but he also didn't want Elena to accidentally hurt Raynor and then beat herself up afterwards. There had to be a compromise. And if the only thing that could be done was to defeat his mother once and for all, then he would be the one to take her down. Klaus had done it 1000 years ago, and it sadly hadn't stuck. This time around, Elijah would end Esther's life himself and ensure that she remained dead. He would do anything to protect Elena and Raynor.

"Elena, darling, what are you doing?" Elijah asked as he turned the corner into the kitchen.

"I'm getting everything together that could possibly hurt Raynor and I'm going to get rid of it. Then you don't have to worry about me accidentally hurting him." Elena replied, but her tone sounded detached.

"Elena... please put the knives down and look at me." Elijah begged. He didn't like how sharp the utensils were and how close she had already come to cutting herself just in the moments that he had been in the kitchen.

"It'll be fine, Elijah. I'll get rid of all the things in the apartment that can hurt him, and then I'll go back to living with Ric and Jeremy." Elena said with a shrug.

"ELENA!" Elijah snapped.

"Did I do something wrong, Elijah? I'm sorry if I did. I didn't mean to." Elena replied flinching away from him at his tone.

Being at a loss of what else to do, Elijah closed the distance between them, pulled Elena into his arms and pressed his lips to hers in a desperate kiss. He almost pulled away when she didn't kiss back immediately, but right as he was about to break the kiss, Elena responded, only to break the kiss a few minutes later as she started to cry.

"What's happening to me, Elijah?" She asked through her tears.

"I don't know my darling, but I have a good idea of who we can ask, because she was the only one who had access to you to do anything." Elijah said while rubbing Elena's back to soothe her sobs.  
"You mean Meredith, don't you?" Elena questioned as she looked up at him.

"Yes, I do. I don't remember seeing her leave yesterday, and neither does Alaric." Elijah replied, his jaw tightening at the thought of what the _good doctor_ might have done to the woman in his arms.

"Where is Raynor? I left him with you." Elena asked in a small voice.

"Alaric has him. I'm so sorry for keeping him from you, Elena. It was wrong of me to do that. But it really was for both yours and Raynor's safety." Elijah replied.

"I know." Elena said with a small, stiff nod. "Can I hold him now?" She asked.

"Of course." Elijah said with a nod of his own.

Lifting Elena into his arms, Elijah carried Elena to the couch and sat her down in his lap before motioning of Alaric to bring Raynor over. And while the other man was hesitant, Elijah gave a small nod that Elena didn't notice, saying that it was okay, he brought his grandson over and placed the baby boy into his step daughter's arms.

"Alaric, will you please find Meredith and Bonnie, and bring both of them here? If it's not a medical issue, then it's a magical one, and Bonnie is the only witch that Elena and I both trust." Elijah inquired.

"Of course. And are they all going to be doing their school work here?" Alaric asked.

"This is the biggest apartment that we currently have access to, so yes." Elijah replied. "And... please don't mention this to Jeremy. I don't want him to worry about any more about Elena than he already does."

"Of course."


	28. Chapter 28

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 28

 **Review Replies for Chapter 26:**

 **Aria Daughter of Chaos:** Thank you so much. I'm glad that you are enjoying it.

 **A/N:** So... disregard the author's note in the previous chapter. Things are going to get sorted out, timing wise with this chapter. But don't worry, for those of you who were already liking Baby Raynor for the couple chapters he was in, he'll be back, eventually. So basically, everything from chapter 13 through chapter 27 have not happened.

Elena woke with a start. Grabbing her phone from the nightstand, she let out a shuddering breath. It had all been a horrible nightmare. It had been three weeks since her birthday, yes, but still nowhere near the start of school. But parts of the nightmare made her think. Could Bonnie have orchestrated everything that had happened over the past few weeks? Elena needed to find out. But before she confronted her best friend, she needed to evaluated Bonnie's behavior over the last few weeks. Because really, Bonnie hadn't been acting weird for the last month and half, it was only the last few weeks... basically since Elena started her relationship with Elijah. Glancing over at her boyfriend, Elena felt a smile pull at her lips. Leaning over, she placed a chaste kiss on his cheek before grabbing her journal from the nightstand drawer and turning to a fresh page.

If there was anything that Elena could learn from her nightmare, it was how to better handle everything that had transpired within it. If she could get to Bonnie herself, maybe go shopping or something, then maybe they could get everyone safe before the danger arose. She knew that Bonnie had been a bit distant with Caroline as well, since Caroline and herself had been talking daily, and had gone a couple of double dates with Elijah and Tyler, and even a triple date with Rebekah and Jeremy. So maybe if she and Caroline reached out to Bonnie, suggested a full on girl's day, maybe they could talk to her and see what was going on. So with that thought in mind, Elena wrote down a header in her journal: Bonnie's Strange Behavior.

It was a start, and it was while Elena was seriously trying to concentrate on how Bonnie had been acting lately that Elijah started to wake up. Sparing a quick glance at him, Elena gave Elijah a smile before refocusing on her current task. The only issue was that now that Elijah was awake, he was prone to distracting her from tasks. This morning was no different. When he moved closer to her, Elijah started placing a trail of kisses up Elena's arm, causing a shiver to run through her body. That shiver led to her biting her lower lip, and then to closing her journal because there was no way she would be able to focus if Elijah was going to continue kissing her.

"What were you working on, darling?" Elijah asked.

"I had a really bad nightmare, but it opened my eyes to some things, and I was trying to pinpoint if any of things that had happened in the nightmare had actually happened in the last three weeks." Elena said as she placed the journal on the stand before turning to face her boyfriend.

"Anything I could possibly help with?" Elijah asked.

"Maybe a little bit later. I'm going to take a quick shower and then go make breakfast." Elena said.

"Were you waiting for me to wake up just so you can elude to wanting me to join you in the shower?" Elijah inquired with a smirk.

"I am eluding to no such thing. If that is what you want to think, that is your prerogative." Elena replied with a smirk of her own.

"Or... new plan... how about I make you breakfast in bed?" Elijah suggested.

"Wouldn't that be better suited for when you wake up before me, and you're surprising me with it?" Elena asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably, but that doesn't mean I can't bring you breakfast in bed this morning." Elijah reasoned.

"Okay... I'll take a shower and then climb back into bed while you go make breakfast." Elena compromised.

"Sounds like a plan, my darling." Elijah said, leaning over and placing a soft kiss on Elena's lips.

As Elijah headed downstairs to start on breakfast, Elena grabbed her phone from the charger and opened her group message with Caroline and Bonnie and sent them a quick message. Upon hitting send, she got out of bed, grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top from her bag, and headed to the bathroom. Her shower was quick, but even so, the atmosphere in the apartment had shifted. She just couldn't tell if it was a good shift or a bad shift. Abandoning the plan of slipping back into bed so that Elijah could bring her breakfast, she made her way to the top of the stairs. Whatever she might have expected, the sight that Elena was met with was not it. Elijah was standing in the doorway, having an intense conversation with Klaus.

"Everything okay down here?" Elena asked.

"You're still alive? I thought Stefan and my brother were messing with me in Chicago." Klaus said, eyeing Elena.

"You don't strike me as someone who allows others to mess with you without there being consequences." Elena retorted.

"You are quite right, love. Let me in Elijah." Klaus said, turning his gaze onto his brother.

"That's not happening." Elijah replied.

"And why not?" Klaus asked.

"Because if I had any control over who was invited in, you would have already been able to enter. Seeing as I don't, and given what you've done to Elena, her friends and her family, I don't see her inviting you in herself." Elijah responded.

"I see... well, that can easily be changed..." Klaus said with a wicked smirk as his gaze turned predatory when it landed back on Elena.

"Compel my girlfriend and pay the price." Elijah warned stepping between Klaus and Elena.

"Girlfriend, eh? You have a type, Brother. Tatia, Katerina and now Elena." Klaus said, his smirk deepening, causing Elena to shiver.

"Elena is nothing like her ancestors." Elijah snapped with a low growl

"Oh, I know. Tatia was used to turn us and bind my curse. Katerina turned herself into a vampire before the ritual could even take place... self-preservation in its literal definition. Elena was willing to give herself up to safe her loved ones. But it seems that I've found the reason that my hybrids aren't surviving. She's still alive." Klaus said.

"You are not going to harm her. If what _she_ told you isn't happening, then your issue is with the Witch, not with Elena. I'd say that you could talk to her about it, but she's been dead for nearly as long as we've been vampires. So take your issues elsewhere, Niklaus, because if you hurt Elena any more than you already have, you will have me as an enemy." Elijah replied.

"It must be the face that has you and Stefan so enthralled with her. You're blinded, Brother. She's gotten to you just like Katerina did." Klaus taunted.

"Elena, please go back upstairs." Elijah said as he glared at his brother.

Elena nodded once before turning around and running up the stairs and grabbing her phone to call Rebekah.

" **I live down the hall from where you're staying, 'Lena. Why the bloody hell are you calling me?** " Rebekah asked, her voice groggy, causing Elena to cringe when she realized she had woken the blonde up.

"Sorry for waking you, Bekah. But Klaus is here. He and Elijah are arguing the doorway. Do not leave your apartment." Elena warned.

" **Thank you for the heads up.** " Rebekah replied.

"Is Jeremy with you, or is he at home?" Elena asked.

" **At home. He and Alaric had a guys night last night. You know, playing video games and the like.** " Rebekah explained, and Elena let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, that sounds like something they would do. I'll send Jeremy a text letting him know to stay at home until you or I tell him otherwise." Elena said, and Rebekah hummed in agreement that was interrupted by a beeping of an incoming call. "I'll talk to you later, Bekah, I have a call coming in from Caroline." She said when she pulled her phone from her ear and checked the caller ID.

" **Just send me a text when Nik leaves.** " Rebekah requested before ending the call.

"Hey Care, what's up?" Elena asked as she answered her best friend's call.

" **So, I got your text in the group message, and I'm all for a girl's shopping day. But I haven't actually seen Bonnie since our last girl's day a few weeks ago. Is she even in town? Or could she have gotten away for a bit to avoid the awkwardness that is still lingering between her and Jeremy since their breakup?** " Caroline asked.

"Now that you mention it... I haven't seen her around town either. Let's meet up in like, an hour? Maybe an hour and a half, at Bonnie's, see if her dad knows where she is." Elena suggested.

" **Sounds like a plan. I'm really worried about her.** " Caroline agreed.

"I am too... I had the worst nightmare last night. I'll tell you about when we meet up though." Elena said.

" **See you soon, 'Lena.** " Caroline replied.

"See you soon, Care."

After putting her phone back on the nightstand, Elena tiptoed to the door and listened intently to the conversation that was going on between Elijah and Klaus. When she couldn't hear anything, her lips lowered to a frown, and she scooted closer to the top of the stairs and peeked around the corner. Elijah was no longer standing at the front door, and the front door wasn't even open anymore. With a sigh of relief, Elena went to stand up and head downstairs.

"The point of breakfast in bed, my darling, is that you are actually in bed when I bring it to you." Elijah's voice carried from the kitchen.

"Stupid vampire hearing." Elena muttered.

"You do understand that said 'stupid vampire hearing' means that I can hear what you say, even when you mutter it, right?" Elijah asked, and Elena wordlessly stuck her tongue out at him before moving to the bedroom and letting out a huff as she plopped herself down on her side of the bed.

"There. I'm in bed." Elena called.

"Breakfast is almost ready, so feel free to inform Rebekah that Niklaus has, for now, left the building, and that she is free to leave her apartment." Elijah replied.

"You heard that too? What, were you multitasking while arguing with Klaus about not hurting me?" Elena questioned as she grabbed her phone once more and sent an 'all clear' text to Rebekah.

"That is precisely what I was doing, my dear. I needed to know that my brother didn't have any minions that were not vampires abducting you from the bedroom while he had me otherwise occupied. You're warning to Rebekah, and then your conversation with Miss Forbes, allowed me the knowledge that he was not trying to distract me." Elijah said as he came into the room with a tray in his hands. "Breakfast is served." He added with a flourish and a smile.

"It smells amazing." Elena replied, flashing him a smile of her own.

For the next few minutes, the couple ate in silence. It wasn't until Elena was about to take her last bite of food that she fully realized that Elijah had been watching her. Placing the forkful of food into her mouth and chewing slowly, Elena turned to face her boyfriend and raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to explain his reasoning for watching her eat. When he simply smirked at her, Elena narrowed her gaze while swallowing.

"Why are you staring?" Elena asked.

"I'm not staring, I'm observing." Elijah replied.

"Why are you observing me for?"

"Can't a guy observe his girlfriend while she enjoys the food that he prepared for her?"

"No... because it makes the girlfriend a bit self-conscious. Like she's eating too much."

"What do you have planned tomorrow?"

"Changing the conversation isn't going to get you out of telling me why you were observing me eat."

"You really want to know?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't."

"Fine..." Elijah said with a sigh. "I want to take you out of Mystic Falls for the day. Since you've already made plans with at least Caroline for a girl's shopping day today, our excursion will have to wait until tomorrow." He explained.

"That doesn't explain why you were watching me eat, Elijah." Elena pointed out.

"I was watching you eat simply because that's what you happened to be doing while I was thinking." Elijah replied.

"Does this sudden idea have anything to do with Klaus being back in town?" Elena asked.

"Partly. My brother revealed his plan to finally undagger our brothers. I don't want you anywhere near Mystic Falls when Finn, who has been daggered for the better part of the last 900 or so years of our existence, and Kol, who has a tendency to not care who he kills after being undaggered, are awoken. I need time to allow them to feed properly before I inform them that my girlfriend is human. And give them the same warning that I gave Niklaus earlier." Elijah said, and when Elena gave him a raised eyebrow, continued. "That if they come anywhere near you with the intent of hurting you, that they will have me as an enemy. I've my family more than anything since I was a child, Elena. Then you came into my life, and while my family is still important to me, you are the most important person to me. I would never forgive myself if, given our relationship, you were to be injured or killed by a member of my family, and I didn't do something to prevent it." He explained.

"Where are you wanting to go?" Elena asked.

"I own a remote cabin up in Canada that we could go to. It's big enough that any of your friends that you would like to invite can come with us. The only member of my family that knows about it is Rebekah, so I have no qualms if you wanted to invite her and Jeremy." Elijah replied.

"That sounds like it'll be fun. How long do you think it'll take for Finn and Kol to have fed enough that it'll be safe to introduce me to them?" Elena asked.

"We can go for a week. Niklaus plans on undaggering them tonight." Elijah said.

"Then shouldn't we leave tonight, instead of tomorrow?" Elena questioned.

"We can. I'm sure Miss Forbes and Mr. Lockwood would enjoy coming along as well." Elijah offered.

"Have I told how amazing of a boyfriend you are?" Elena asked.

"Not today." Elijah replied.

"You are an amazing boyfriend, Elijah Mikaelson." Elena said as she leaned over and placed a small kiss on his lips. "Thank you for breakfast, it was amazing. But I have to go meet up with Caroline so that we can figure out what's going on with Bonnie."

"Have fun today, my darling." Elijah said with a smile.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

By the time that Elena showed up at Bonnie's house, Caroline was already leaning against the hood of her car, scrolling through her phone. When the blonde heard her friend's car pull up, Caroline looked up and smiled, slipping her phone into her back pocket. It was only when Caroline got a good look at Elena's face that her smile fell.

"What's wrong? Other than us not seeing Bonnie much the past few weeks." Caroline immediately questioned, and Elena sighed. She should have known that she wouldn't be able to hide her worry from her best friend.

"I had a really bad dream last night. It was so vivid, but it's the pushing force in making sure we talk to Bonnie." Elena explained.

"I need more than that, Elena. I can't help make sure it doesn't come true if you don't tell me everything." Caroline pointed out.

"I don't want to have to say it twice if I don't have to. So let's try and find Bonnie, and if we can, I'll tell you both together. If we can't, then I'll tell you as we shop." Elena bargained.

"Fine, but we are not parting ways today until I know what happened in this dream." Caroline said with a firm nod.

"Well, if it helps, you still talking to me that last few weeks is already different than the dream." Elena said as she linked her arm with Caroline's and headed towards Bonnie's front door.

Before the two girls could even reach the front porch, Bonnie was striding out to meet them with a determined look on her face.

"Hey Bon..." Caroline started.

"You both need to leave. Now." Bonnie cut the blonde off.

"Bonnie... we need to talk to you. _I_ need to talk to you." Elena stressed.

"It'll have to wait. My dad and I have company over." Bonnie said sternly.

"Bonnie... it's a matter of life and death..." Elena tried.

"I'm sorry, Elena. But that sounds like most of what our lives have been since you let Stefan into your life, so forgive me for not being too keen on wanting to jump into action with another life and death situation in _your_ life. I have my own stuff going on." Bonnie snapped.

"It's not about _my life_ , Bonnie. It's about Caroline's, and Elijah's, and Rebekah's... hell, it's about every single Vampire in the entire world. And it all hinges on who you've sided with in an upcoming fight." Elena snapped back.

"Wait? My life is in danger?" Caroline asked.

"If what happened in my dream last night has any weight in what is to come with that Klaus informed Elijah of this morning, then yes, Care, your life is in danger." Elena said with a sigh.

"Bonnie, sweetheart, come back inside. Esther needs to go over the final preparations for the plan." Mr. Bennett called from the front door.

"Esther? As in Esther Mikaelson? The Original Witch? Bonnie, what have you gotten yourself into?" Elena said, horror written on her face.

"I'm helping get rid of Klaus for good, Elena. I thought you would be happy about that." Bonnie said.

"Before last night, I would have been. But Klaus is the head of Caroline's sire line. If he dies, so does she." Elena said.


	29. Chapter 29

Happy Birthday, Elena

Chapter 29

Bonnie narrowed her eyes at her friend, trying to determine if Elena was lying or not. Of course, there was no reason for Elena to lie about it being Caroline's life that was in danger if Esther's plan succeeded, but Bonnie couldn't let Elena and Elijah interfere. But if Elena was truly speaking the truth, and killing Klaus would kill Caroline, then Bonnie was in between a rock and a hard place. So she put up a wall and scoffed at her best friends.

"Do you really expect me to believe that you know what Esther has planned for Klaus, and that his death will really lead to Caroline's?" Bonnie asked.

"I know it's hard to believe, Bonnie, but when you were having visions, or whatever they ended up being, at the beginning of Junior year, before you accepted your powers as part of you, I supported you. I don't know why I had this dream, or vision, or whatever, but I know that Esther plans to use _my_ blood to link her children together, to then have Finn be a sacrifice himself to kill all 5 of her children. And when an Original is killed, their _entire_ sire line is killed off with them. Esther plans to eliminate the entire Vampire population, because every Vampire in the world stemmed from her children." Elena said. "The very children that she herself turned into Vampires." She added.

"Look, it's sweet that you are trying to help, but you're human, Elena. There's nothing that you can do. I know what I'm doing. Now you both have to leave." Bonnie said before turning on her heel and heading back inside, making sure to slam the door.

Caroline kept looking between the spot Bonnie had just been standing and Elena, trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Only when she realized that Elena was no longer standing next to her and had headed back to her car, which Caroline was now realizing was actually Elijah's car, did Caroline move from her spot.

"Is it true? Klaus is the head of the sire line that I descend from?" Caroline asked in a small voice, catching up to Elena.

"Yes, Caroline, it's true. As much as I want to hate him and wish to see him dead, I can't let Bonnie kill him, because we would lose you. And I would lose Elijah, and Rebekah." Elena said with a sigh.

"How many generations?" Caroline questioned.

"You mean, how many people separate the blood that runs through your veins from the blood that runs through Klaus'?" When Caroline nodded, Elena continued. "Well, you were sired by Damon, he was sired by Katherine, she was sired by Rose, Rose was sired by a woman named Mary, and Mary was sired by Klaus. So, in normal family terms, Klaus is like your great-great grandfather." She explained with a shudder.

"That's really disgusting given how obsessed with me he seems to be." Caroline replied with a shiver of her own.

"Well, Rose and Mary are both dead already, but if Klaus dies, Katherine and Damon are still kicking about, so..." Elena trailed off.

"Okay, I really don't want to talk about this anymore, can we go shopping now?" Caroline asked.

"Of course. And I have a surprise for you. A good one, this time." Elena said, adding the last part quickly when she saw her best friend's panicked look.

"Anything to get my mind off of my possible impending doom." Caroline said with a bright smile.

"What would you say to a week long get away? You, me, Rebekah, and our respective boyfriends." Elena said.

"That sounds amazing! Where and when?" Caroline asked, clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

"I can't tell you the where, but the when would be tonight. I know it's short notice, but Elijah just suggested it before I came here." Elena said.

"Oh, I can totally have me and Tyler ready to go by tonight. Just let me know what time we're meeting up, and where, and we will be there." Caroline said with a grin.

"And you're sure that Ty won't mind a very last minute notice that we're going out of town?" Elena asked.

"If I have anything to say about, it's going to be a romantic getaway... with two other couples. He'll jump at the chance to get away with me." Caroline said with a roll of her eyes.

"Then let's go shopping." Elena said. "Hey Care, since Bonnie is pushing us away for whatever reason, would you be opposed if I called Bekah and invited her to meet up with us?" She asked.

"Of course not. If she and Jeremy are coming too, then we all need cute new outfits."

Elena smiled and nodded as she pulled out her phone and dialing Rebekah. When the blonde didn't answer, Elena frowned and left a message. Glancing up from the ground, which she had been frowning at, she saw the curtains of Bonnie's living room quickly close. Feeling a shiver run down her spine, Elena climbed into Elijah's car and took off. Despite putting distance between herself and Bonnie's house, Elena still had the feeling that someone was watching her, and that unsettled her. She and Caroline were in different cars, and neither Elijah nor Rebekah were with her.

"Hello Elena."

Elena jumped at the voice before quickly pulling over before she crashed the car. Spinning around in her seat, she glared at her ex-boyfriend. How she hadn't noticed Stefan sitting in the back seat, she wasn't sure. She also wasn't sure when he even got into the car.

"What the hell Stefan?" Elena snapped.

"We need to talk." Stefan said slowly.

"Like hell we do. Get out of Elijah's car." She replied.

"Elena, I'm trying to protect you and Damon. Please listen to me." Stefan begged.

"'Trying to protect me'. Like mentioning me around Klaus in Chicago when he thought I was dead? Get out, Stefan, I mean it." Elena warned.

"You're not wearing your necklace." Stefan said, his eyes glancing down to her throat for the briefest of moments before flicking back to her face.

"It's not _my_ necklace. It's Rebekah's. I gave it back to her." Elena responded.

"I gave that to you to protect you, Elena. Why would you give it to a Vampire that can easily be compelling you now?" Stefan asked.

"Because neither Rebekah nor Elijah have any reason to compel me. The necklace used to belong to Esther, so it belongs to Rebekah." Elena said while discretely dialing Elijah's number.

"What's going on between you and Elijah? He was very irritated in Chicago when I brought you up in conversation."

"That's none of your business, Stefan. Now get out of his car."

"Elena, please, I know what Esther's plan is."

"So do I. And I'm not going to let it happen. I'll lose 3 more people that I care about if she succeeds." Elena said. "And when I say 3, I mean Caroline, Elijah and Rebekah. You and Damon can go to hell for all I care." She added when she saw the hope flit across his eyes.

"Elena..." Stefan started, but didn't have a chance to finish as he was pulled from the car by Elijah.

"When a woman tells you to get out of a car, she means it." Elijah growled.

"You don't have any control over who Elena interacts with." Stefan replied, shoving Elijah off of him.

"You're right, I don't. But she doesn't want to talk to you, and by not leaving her alone, you are harassing her. So you have 3 seconds to be gone from my sight before I tear you apart." Elijah responded.

"You're really going to let him talk to me like this, Elena?" Stefan asked.

"Yes, I am." Elena said with a nod.

"Go have fun with Caroline and Rebekah, Elena, I'll take care of Stefan." Elijah said, and with another nod, Elena drove off.

"You have to let me keep her safe, Elijah. Her life is in danger." Stefan said.

"I am well aware of the constant danger my brother has put Elena in. And _I_ am keeping her safe. You are no longer necessary in keeping Elena safe, given how many times she almost died while you and your brother were too busy fighting over her. There is a reason that she cut you both out of her life. She doesn't need you, she doesn't want you. She's moved on. As I told you in Chicago. Come near her again, and you will not live to see another day. Do I make myself clear?" Elijah inquired.

"Yeah, fine. Whatever." Stefan said before turning and walking away from Elijah.

 **TVD – HBE – TVD**

By the time that Elena pulled into a parking spot outside of the store, she was still shaking over the run in with Stefan. It solidified the knowledge that she was over him, but him just showing up like that, without warning, when she had nothing and no one to protect her, was unsettling. Taking a shaky breath, Elena put the car in park and climbed out, quickly spotting the two blondes and making a beeline for them. Once she reached them, both Caroline and Rebekah gave her an odd look.

"I thought you were right behind me? What took you so long?" Caroline asked.

"Stefan showed up." Elena bit out.

"He showed up at Bonnie's?" Rebekah asked.

"No, he showed up in the backseat of Elijah's car. Saying that he's trying to keep me and Damon safe. His concern for my wellbeing would be a lot more believable if he hadn't mentioned me still being alive around Klaus in Chicago." Elena replied.

"Nik didn't know you were still alive?" Rebekah questioned.

"He wasn't supposed to know I was still alive. My biological father offered himself to the spirits or whatever in my place, so while Klaus did drain me of my blood in the ritual, he wasn't supposed to know that I was still alive." Elena explained. "But can we just shop. I need to get my mind off of all of it."

"Of course, are you going to tell us where we're going for the week?" Caroline asked.

"Not until we are all in the car heading there. I have a feeling that Elijah doesn't want to risk anyone possibly overhearing that could be spies for Klaus." Elena said slowly, her eyes darting around.

"Then how will we know what kind of weather to buy cute outfits for?" Caroline asked with a frown.

"Hold on." Elena said before pulling out her phone.

 **Buy clothes for both summer and winter weather. I'm not sure what the weather is like where we're going. And it'll throw off any spies that Klaus might have.**

After hitting send, Elena looked at her friends to see them both nodding. With a smile, and a sigh of relief, she linked arms with both blondes and headed into the store. It was a few hours later that the girls walked back out, but all three of them were smiling and had a couple of shopping bags each. As Elena was heading towards Elijah's car, a strong arm caught her around the waist and spun her around. She was about to scream, but when she realized that it was Elijah smiling down at her, the scream died on the tip of her tongue and she smiled back.

"Don't scare me like that, Elijah." She said.

"I've missed you." Elijah replied. "And I wanted some alone time with my girlfriend before we leave tonight." He added, bending down for a kiss.

"Speaking of which, have you by chance talked to Jeremy today? It might have slipped my mind to tell him to pack." Elena said as she let Elijah take her bags from her.

"I didn't have to. After you left to meet up with Caroline, I told Rebekah that the 6 of us would be leaving tonight since Finn and Kol are being undaggered, and she called Jeremy to give him a heads up." Elijah replied as he placed the bags into the trunk before moving to open the passenger side door for Elena.

"Did you tell Rebekah where we're going? Because she didn't let on that she knew." Elena questioned as she slid into the car.

"I did not. I don't want any of them to know just yet. As long as Caroline relays the same thing to Mr. Lockwood to pack for any kind of weather, and they are all at the apartment when we are ready to leave, then I will inform everyone once we are on the road." Elijah replied as he got into the driver's seat.

"How long should it take us to get there?"

"A few days at least, a week at most, and we'll be there for a full week, so safe bet will be to pack for 3 weeks."

"That's putting us back in Mystic Falls just before school starts."

"Yes it will, but I would rather have that be the bigger concern than any of my brothers coming after you for any reason."

"Okay, I'll let Caroline and Tyler know, and we can let Rebekah and Jeremy know when we get back to the apartment... unless they are already informed of the length of our trip."

"They are aware. Luckily, Rebekah already owns enough clothes from what Niklaus bought her in Chicago that she will be fine. If you and Caroline need anything else once we're on the road, or once we get there, then I will happily buy you both more clothes."

"I'll text Caroline and let her and Tyler know how long to pack for. And your generous offer to buy us more clothes if we don't have enough." Elena said as she pulled her phone out.

As Elijah drove them home, Elena scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. Even though it was a short drive back to the apartment, with the day that she had had so far, Elena was mostly asleep by the time Elijah pulled to a stop. When Elijah looked down at Elena, he couldn't help the smile that pulled at his lips. Turning more to face her, Elijah lifted Elena into his arms and carried her inside. Once he had laid her down on the bed, and placed a kiss on her forehead, Elijah went back to the car to get Elena's bags. When he got back to the car, Elijah was met with Alaric standing there, looking less than happy.

"Alaric, what can I do for you?" Elijah asked, moving around the other man towards the trunk.

"You're taking Elena and Jeremy out of town?" Alaric asked. "For 3 weeks?"

"For their safety, yes. Niklaus informed me this morning of his plan to undagger our other two brothers tonight. Finn has been daggered and desiccating in a coffin for 900 years; Kol has a tendency to turn homicidal to make up for the time Niklaus has him desiccating. With Elena's bloodline being linked to my family since we were turned, I did not want to risk the chance of any of my brothers coming after her. I cannot control the bloodlust that Finn and Kol will be experiencing, but I can take Elena as far away from here without leaving the continent as I possibly can. They will be perfectly safe, of that I assure you." Elijah explained.

"Who all is going?" Alaric asked.

"Myself, Elena, Rebekah, Jeremy, Ms. Forbes and Mr. Lockwood. Ms. Bennett was going to be invited, but she pushed Elena and Ms. Forbes away in favor of working with my mother to stop Niklaus. As for Mr. Donovan and yourself, you are both welcome to stay in my apartment while we are gone so that my brothers can't get to either of you." Elijah replied.

"Where exactly will you all be?" Alaric inquired.

"The only person is privy to the location, at this time, is Elena. I do not trust Niklaus to not have spies lurking around Mystic Falls, so Elena and I agreed not to mention where we are going to anyone. Not even Rebekah, Jeremy, Mr. Lockwood or Ms. Forbes knows where we are headed. Just that we are leaving town for a few weeks, at most." Elijah replied.

"Will there be cell reception?"

"No. My brothers won't know to look for us where we are going, but at least Niklaus is smart enough to try and track our phones. While we will have them with us, they will be off unless it is absolutely necessary to turn them on."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Alaric be thankful that I didn't take off with just Elena this morning when my brother told me of his plan, and that you are being informed that your step-daughter and ward will be gone for the next few weeks. We could have easily left without telling you anything."

"I supposed knowing part of the truth is better than not knowing any of it." Alaric said with a sigh. "Just keep them safe. I don't want to lose either of them."

"They will be safe." Elijah said with a nod.

With that, the two men went their separate ways. Alaric headed towards the Mystic Grill and Elijah headed back inside with Elena's shopping bags. Once he was back in the apartment, and the door was closed and locked, he placed the bag in the living room and made his way up to the bedroom. Taking in Elena's sleeping form, Elijah smiled again and moved quietly about the room getting a suitcase from the closet and starting to pack for both of them. By the time that Elena woke up a few hours later, Elijah was just finishing up packing while talking to someone on the phone.

"Who was that?" Elena asked once Elijah had hung up.

"Caroline. She and Tyler are on their way over, and our siblings are at Rebekah's apartment finishing up their own packing. So once Caroline and Tyler get here, we should be ready to leave." Elijah replied.

"I haven't packed yet." Elena commented.

"I took the liberty of packing for you. I hope that's okay. After everything that you have been through today, and the dream that you had last night, you needed some sleep." Elijah said.

"Of course it's okay that you packed for me. As long as you didn't pack things that I wouldn't usually wear, we'll be fine." Elena said with a smirk.

"I know you well enough to know that the clothes you bought today, and the clothes you already have are more your style than anything that would be worn strictly for my benefit." Elijah said. "I also offered Alaric and Matt the apartment during our time away. That way if Niklaus comes looking for you, by going after them, he won't be able to get to them." He added.

"Did they accept?" Elena asked.

"Well, I only spoke with Alaric, but I made sure to tell him the invitation was for Matt as well. And your step-father didn't accept or deny the offer. But for your peace of mind, I hope they take us up on it."

Before Elena could say anything else, there was a knock on the front door and while Elijah carried their luggage downstairs, Elena went ahead to see who it was. Upon opening the door, Elena was greeted with Jeremy, Rebekah, Caroline, Tyler and Matt standing on the other side. Ushering them inside she smiled.

"I know you're all leaving for a few weeks, but Alaric mentioned that Elijah offered to let me, and Ric stay here while you're gone? If that's the case, we'll need a key." Matt said, looking between Elena and Elijah.

"Here you are Mr. Donovan." Elijah replied, handing over a set of keys.

"Sorry we didn't invite you, Matt. With Bonnie pushing Caroline and I away this morning, we didn't want you to feel like a 7th wheel." Elena said.

"It's okay Elena. I understand. And I'm sure that by the time that you all get back, Bonnie will realize her mistake and apologize." Matt responded, giving Elena and Caroline both a quick hug.

"Is anyone going to tell us where we're going?" Tyler asked.

"Not until we're on the road. Even now, Niklaus could have people lurking that could over hear." Elijah replied. "Now, as a precaution, we will all need to have our phones off, unless there's an emergency. While my brothers won't know to look for where we're headed, I would not put it past Niklaus to try and trace our phones." He explained.

"Really, Elijah. No technology?" Rebekah asked.

"Our brother does not know about where we are headed. I wish to keep it that way, Rebekah." Elijah replied.

"Come on guys, it'll be fun. It'll give us a chance to really reconnect with one another." Elena said with a smile.

"Fine. Phones off." Rebekah said with a sigh.

"We should get going. We have a long journey ahead of us." Elijah said.


End file.
